Unsettled Scores
by arian
Summary: Posting this against my will... Kinda. Anyhow, Laguna gets a bit of a shock, In fact, several shocks. And not all of them are nice.
1. Chapter 1

Unsettled Scores

Unsettled Scores

By Arian

If you could have seen

Her at seventeen

When all of her dreams were new,

Beautiful and strong,

Before it all went wrong:

She's never known the meaning of surrender;

Never known the meaning of surrender.

Lyrics by Don Black and Christopher Hampton

Okay, this is possibly going to turn out to be the longest fic I've written yet, so you have been warned. I didn't mean for it to get this long, but I was having fun! You know they say time flies when you're having fun? Well so do pages! Anyhow, see what you think.

This is part of a series that was unintentionally started some time ago. I'd really appreciate it if you'd read it in order. Or something that vaguely resembles the order at any rate. I wasn't going to post any more of them on ff.net because I didn't feel there was a good response to them but a friend (*glares at said friend*) told me to. And I trust her. 

The reading order so far is as follows:

Half-forgotten Interlude

Birds in Cages

Far From Perfect

Unsettled Scores

Arian looked at the cards that lay out on the table in front of her.

_I'm losing. I cannot _believe_ I'm losing to Laguna! I'm _much_ better at this than him, so _why_ am I losing?!_

She watched as he placed another card down and she smiled, despite her predicament. Ellone's face looked back at her from the table. Arian looked up into the brown eyes that were mirrored on the card. "I didn't know he had a card of you, Elle."

The girl nodded from where she sat next to Laguna. "I made it for him, just like I made a card of Squall." An impish gleam entered her eyes. "Uncle Laguna has all sorts of cards you don't know about."

"Oh?" Arian glanced warily from Ellone to Laguna, who just smiled innocently before turning to wink at Ellone.

When there was no further response from the pair, Arian pushed her hair back over her shoulder absently and laid another card on the Triple Triad grid. She knew that it didn't matter what she did now, she had lost the game.

Laguna grinned at Ellone. "I think we've won, but which card shall we put down?"

Ellone tapped one of the unseen cards, still smiling the same mischievous grin. "That one. Definitely that one."

"What do you think? This card?" He asked Arian, waving the card at her, being careful not to let her see the other side.

"Just put the damned card down!" She sighed irritably. "You've won whatever card that is. It could be a Bite-bug card and you've still won." Laguna's attitude was beginning to annoy her just a bit. She was a bad loser as it was, without him dragging the situation on and on.

Without taking his eyes from hers, he flipped the card onto the table, his expression one of pure amusement.

Arian didn't shift her gaze. _He's waiting for my reaction. Well let him wait! I'm not going to give him the satisfaction of reacting, whatever's on that card. He thinks he's _so_ clever and _so_ funny. If he wants me to look at that card, then I'm not going to!_ She thought in a fit of bloody-mindedness. She continued to try and outstare Laguna, her mind gradually wandering, as it had a tendency to. _Oh, but he does have such beautiful green eyes…_

"Look at the card." Laguna laughed softly and Arian found herself looking down before she could stop herself. Suddenly realising that this was _not_ what she wanted to do, her head snapped back up again and she was about to say something when the image that had been on the card fought its way through to her brain.

Her jaw dropped and she stared down at a tiny picture of herself. "What the…" She shuddered slightly. She had never liked to see any picture that had her in it. It was simply not something that she was comfortable with. "Oh, take it away!"

Ellone looked quite affronted at that remark. "I didn't think my drawings were _that_ bad."

"No, they're good drawings, but that's _me_." 

"That's kinda the point." Laguna laughed as Arian picked the card up and inspected it curiously. 

"So you made it, Elle?" She glanced up through her hair as the girl opposite nodded. "Laguna, why the hell do you want a card with me on it? Any reason or just complete whimsy?"

"I'll go with the whimsy thing for now." 

"Hmmm." She thought about that for a while, then nodded. "Yeah, ok. I guess I won't complain. On one condition… you keep this card out of my sight, got it?" Arian handed the card back to him reluctantly. 

Their relationship was as antagonistic as ever. They argued and bickered but there was never really anything with any maliciousness to it. Sometimes they got carried away and one of them would end up being very hurt, but it was too late now for things to be wrecked by one of their petty squabbles.

"Another game?" Laguna asked.

"No. I don't want to lose any more cards today, thanks. Why don't you and Ellone play?"

The younger girl nodded happily and started to pick out her cards. After Laguna had chosen his own cards, Arian made a dive across the table for his shirt pocket and pulled out the remaining cards.

"Hey, no! Those are mine!" He complained as she sat back down with a satisfied smile.

"I'm just looking. I'm not gonna steal any. I'll give 'em back in a moment, but I just want to see what cards you have." 

Laguna shot her a warning look. "I know exactly how many are there." He told her before turning back to the game with Ellone.

Arian flipped cheerfully through the cards, not even slightly tempted to pinch one of them. They were all monster cards, nothing rare or interesting. She was beginning to contemplate taking one of the cards, just to see if he noticed, when she found she had flipped over the last card in Laguna's collection.

She nodded in approval. "I should have guessed you'd have this card."

Laguna glanced back from the card game he was losing to Ellone, who had much more practice at cards than either Laguna or Arian. "Yeah. It's a very good likeness."

"Raine?" Ellone peered at the card. "Where did you get it from? I didn't make it for you!"

"Elle, who taught you how to make cards?" Laguna laughed awkwardly, not entirely at ease with the line of conversation.

Ellone smiled at that and picked the card up, her own game forgotten. "I'd forgotten that she could make them. She was much better at it than I am."

"It's a good card. In terms of playing Triple Triad, I mean." Arian said thoughtfully. "But you don't play with that card, do you? You just keep it, because it's special. You don't want to risk losing it, am I right?" She paused as Laguna nodded. "I wondered why you always avoided playing with the random rule." She grinned and handed the pile of cards back.

The door opened and Kiros and Ward walked in, wandering over to the table. 

"How are things in the realms of We-all-sit-around-doing-nothing Land?" Kiros drawled sarcastically.

"Oh, you know, the same as it usually is." Arian stifled a yawn.

"Tiring, is it? All this effort you're so obviously exerting?"

Arian shrugged and shot Laguna an evil look. "No. It's just that some of us are feeling very sleep deprived."

Kiros raised an eyebrow at Laguna, who fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Not what you think." Arian put in quickly. "Although perhaps I should just let you think that. That'd be fun. Anyway, some of us couldn't sleep because we were _cold_. Could we, Laguna?" She said meaningfully. "Some of us felt compelled to steal _all_ the damned blankets."

"Will you stop going on about it! You could've woken me up or somethin'. It's not such a big deal."

"Laguna." She said flatly. "You sleep like a log. I tried to wake you up and you were either ignoring me, which I suggest you don't admit to, or you were too fast asleep to notice, or alternatively, you were dead, which isn't very likely being as I'm currently talking to you."

"I don't know." Ellone put in, smiling at Arian. "He could be undead, like a zombie or something. That'd explain a lot."

"Will you both quit pickin' on me! Two against one isn't fair." Laguna complained.

Kiros looked on at them in amusement. "You three are bored out of your tiny minds." 

"Hey!" Laguna objected quickly.

"Yeah, Kiros. Don't be so mean." Arian put in.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry." Kiros smiled down at Ellone. "Ellone actually has some measure of intelligence." He ignored the flat looks from Arian and Laguna and kept talking. "Why don't you go somewhere or do something? _Anything_. Just stop moping around here like this is the entire universe. I think you two forget there's an outside world sometimes."

"Let's visit Squall!" Laguna said cheerfully, oblivious to the are-you-_serious_? look Arian was directing at him.

"Yeah, that'd be nice. I haven't seen him for a while." Ellone said thoughtfully.

"Well, yeah, alright… I guess we could." Arian grudgingly acceded. Then a sudden smile lit her face. "This could be fun."

Laguna gave her a worried look, eyes searching her face for a long while. "You're only coming with me and Elle on one condition… you promise me that you won't deliberately irritate Squall or try to make him freak out."

Arian's grin abruptly faded and she glared sullenly at Laguna. "Meanie. You spoil all my fun."

"Just for once, let's try and get along. You make a little bit of an effort with Squall, please. I know it's not all your fault and he's just as bad as you, but…" Laguna gave a weary sigh. Keeping order between Arian and Squall was very trying. "Oh, and one more thing…"

"What? There's _more_? Are you not content to simply spoil one of my more amusing pastimes? What do you want, a contract signed in blood?"

"I'll only resort to that if it becomes absolutely necessary." He grinned. "You have to promise that you'll at least _listen_ to what I say concerning Squall, and preferably act on it."

"Yeah, yeah. Alright. I promise. So when do we leave?"

***************

Garden was stationed close to Balamb, not far from where it had been originally situated, before the missile attack. From the office, high up in the building, Squall watched the town patiently, waiting for the sound of the door to open. His visitors were due to arrive any time soon.

Squall wasn't overly enthusiastic for this idea, but, as usual, Rinoa had bludgeoned him into it. It was amazing what one could go through, only to find themselves bending to the slightest whim of a girl. 

Looking back at his desk for a moment, a rare smile crossed Squall's face. _We'll see who gets the last laugh this time, Arian. We'll see._

The animosity between Arian and himself had long since faded to a mere dislike. They put up with each other and there were fewer arguments than there used to be, but they were not overly fond of each other.

Squall put aside his thoughts on that matter and turned to the other niggling problem that he had. He was still contemplating that problem when the door finally opened and Rinoa sauntered in, followed by Laguna, Arian and Ellone.

"Staring into space like that is very unnerving, Squall." Rinoa told him, wishing he would break that habit.

"…Whatever. Nice to see you again, Sis. It's been a while." He turned to Ellone first, his uncontested favourite among the group that had walked in.

Arian watched, waiting, while Squall greeted Laguna a little uncomfortably, but as politely as he could. When Squall turned to her, she gave him a smile dripping with sweetness and light. Squall simply sighed, giving Laguna an unusually expressive look of suffering.

Laguna looked baffled for a moment, and then saw Arian's sickening smile. "Hey, you said you were going to behave." He admonished.

"I _am_. See, I'm smiling and I haven't said anything nasty yet. I'm being remarkably restrained here, so give me some credit." Arian gave Squall a little wave and started to talk to Rinoa and Ellone.

"I really have no idea how you put up with her." Squall shook his head, sighing to himself.

"She's only like that when you're around. She's not really that bad. She just enjoys winding you up." Laguna shrugged.

"Whatever." Squall froze that conversation and moved on to what he wanted to talk about. "I need to speak to you, and probably her as well unfortunately, about a SeeD mission that's being requested. We don't know who it's from yet, but we have some people trying to figure that out. It appears to be from a man in Galbadia. He contacts us by messenger, so we don't know anything about him. What's more, the messenger doesn't know the man because the message given to him by _another_ person. It's very well set up so that if we choose to ignore the mission, we won't find out the identity of this individual."

Laguna frowned a little. "Well, that's all very mysterious, Squall, but how does this affect us? You have your own friends who are much better at advising you than us. We know very little about how SeeD handles these things."

Squall looked down at his hands for a while. "…Maybe it doesn't matter. I won't bother you with it yet. But I want to talk to you about it tomorrow. Both of you." He cast his gaze across to Arian, who nodded amiably.

Remembering an idea that occurred to her some time back, one that seemed very amusing, Arian began to talk to Rinoa again, in a louder voice this time. Squall's face went very pale and then flushed crimson as he heard what they were talking about. Baby clothes. If looks could have killed, Squall would have been found guilty of parricide by any court in the world.

Laguna had the decency to look embarrassed and closed his eyes and wished that he was anywhere but where he was. "Arian, cut it out!"

"You said I had to promise not to be mean to Squall. And I'm not. I'm just talking to Rinoa. Is there a problem with that?" She smiled innocently, watching Squall's face out of the corner of her eye and trying not to laugh.

"She's not, is she?" Squall managed eventually, looking like he was about to be sick.

"Don't be stupid. Believe me, Squall, the person who would be most put out about that, if it ever happened, which it isn't going to," Laguna added quickly "Would be her. She just knows that this is something that's guaranteed to get a reaction out of you."

Walking over to Arian, Laguna hissed in her ear. "One more comment like that and you're going home. Even if I have to take you back to Esthar myself and chain you to the wall to keep you there. Do we understand each other?"

"Is that a promise?" Arian winked at him and Laguna rolled his eyes in despair.

"I just want you to leave him alone. Can you do that please? Just for a little while?" He gave her a pitiful look and she gave in at last. 

"Alright. Just for a little while, though. I'll leave Squall alone."

Squall relaxed and a small smile traced its way across his face. "I've sorted out somewhere for you to sleep. Sis, your old room is still vacant, so you can stay there, if you like." 

He'd been waiting for this for some time. He really wanted to see the look on Arian's face. Rinoa hadn't been keen on the idea, but Squall was willing to risk making her unhappy. 

Picking up some keys from his desk, Squall threw one at Laguna, who caught it and looked for the number engraved on the side. After passing Ellone a key, he tossed a third key to Arian, who immediately caught on to his idea, but refused to catch the key, watching it clatter to the floor at her feet.

She looked up from the key to Squall's unusually cheerful visage. "One will do fine, Squall." She said flatly. 

Laguna picked up the key and pushed it into her hand. "It's Squalls home, so we abide by his rules."

"This isn't fair. He's being mean deliberately, Laguna. If I'm not allowed to, then you shouldn't let him be mean either. It's called having double standards." Arian glared up at him, waiting for Laguna to say something to Squall. He didn't. Instead, he just leaned down and whispered something to her. A slow smile spread across her features and she nodded. 

"Yeah, ok." Arian looked up at Squall, who was looking a bit more wary after that exchange. 

"The Garden faculty will be around so curfew applies to you as well." He warned, but when they just smiled amiably at him, Squall got even more suspicious.

"Where are the rooms? I don't know how you've numbered this place." Arian asked politely and Squall was left feeling unnerved at her sudden, pleasant tone of voice. They were definitely up to something. 

"Yours is in that direction." Squall pointed to his left and then turned to Laguna. "And yours is somewhere over there." He pointed in the opposite direction.

"Such a welcoming soul, is Squall." Arian muttered, following Laguna out of the room. "I get such a warm sense of his willingness to help others, not to mention his kind and caring attitude."

***************

Arian huffed angrily to herself. It was getting to be late evening, close to curfew time, and she wasn't happy about it in the slightest. She had spent the rest of the day just strolling around Garden with Laguna, talking. She scowled to herself, remembering what they had been talking about. Mainly, Laguna had done the talking and that had consisted of a list of threats about what he was going to do if she didn't stop picking on Squall. In the end, she had been made to promise, for a second time, that she was going to leave the SeeD commander in peace. And this time it would be a promise she would keep.

Noticing that the students around them were beginning to disperse, Laguna nudged her gently.

"Curfew." He said simply.

"This is sooo unfair! Doesn't he know that I hate waking up alone?" She sighed. It echoed back to another time in her life when she had always woken up alone. Alone and feeling very unloved. She hated to be reminded of that feeling, although she had never denied her past.

"Hey, it's only for a little while. You'll live." He grinned, but Arian didn't feel much like laughing.

"It reminds me of back then. I don't like it. You know that I don't, so don't turn it into a joke because it isn't." She clung fiercely to his arm, refusing to let him leave. "What are they going to do if we just sit here all night? Seriously, what can they do about it? You're the president of an entire country so throw your weight around a bit!"

Laguna sighed quietly. "We didn't come here to cause trouble. Well… _you_ did, I guess, but…" His voice trailed into nothing and Arian realised that he didn't intend to do anything that would upset Squall.

"I don't like it." She said again, still clinging to his arm as he tried to walk away. "And it'll put me in a bad mood for ages, I'll warn you now."

"Look, you're being childish. I know how it makes you feel, but deal with it." Laguna was beginning to get irritated with her. "And remember what I told you earlier, when we were talking to Squall." 

Reluctantly realising the death-grip she had on his arm, Arian nodded slowly and watched him walk away.

She found her room, with some guidance from a few of the students, and looked it over, trying to find something wrong with it. Arian sank gently down into a chair, giving up. The room was identical to countless others throughout Garden, with nothing she could complain about. She squandered a few hours thinking up new and inventive ways of making Squall's life a misery, before she realised what the time was and headed quietly out of the room.

She was leaning against the wall outside the training centre when Selphie and Irvine strolled up.

"Hey!" The small girl called out, waving manically before half-running towards Arian. "Squall never told us you were here! Is Sir Laguna here too?" There was a slight pause while Arian nodded wearily. Selphie's boundless energy had a tiring effect on everyone. "Yay!"

Irvine, who had been walking slower than the hyper active SeeD, joined them. "Some kind of problem? Why are you hanging around out here?"

The woman sighed in exasperation and rolled her eyes. "Another one of Laguna's _brilliant_ ideas. Why can't he think these things through? It's all very well to ask to meet up with me, but how exactly am I supposed to get through the training centre? There are monsters in there and I'm just little old _me._"

"You can come through with us, can't she Irvy?" Selphie chirped happily, leaving Arian to wonder how such a sprightly, innocent seeming individual could ever have made it into the ranks of SeeD.

"Sure." The tall men shrugged amiably. "But this time, Sef, we run from T-Rexaurs. I can't be bothered to deal with them at this time of night."

***************

The students of Garden were more than a little surprised to find the President of Esthar sat on the floor in the corner of the secret area, just behind the training centre. They were unsure how to react to this unexpected visitor, but they eventually decided to ignore him, being as he showed no interest in their presence.

Laguna smiled and rose to his feet as Arian, Selphie and Irvine traipsed in. They looked around for a brief moment before they spotted him and walked over.

"Took your time. I thought you'd forgotten or something." Laguna commented.

Arian shot him a sour look. "Great idea, Laguna. When you thought up this little brainwave of yours, did you actually consider how I was going to get through the training centre? Was I supposed to fly?"

Laguna merely smiled again. "No. I guess I forgot about that. But you got here in the end, didn't you?"

"With help." Selphie piped up, grinning happily and giving a small wave before joining Irvine at the front of the large balcony area.

"Why did you ask me here?" The blond woman asked in a low tone, turning her back on the stares that they had drawn from some of the more curious students.

"I thought you might appreciate the company."

Arian watched him patiently, waiting when it appeared that he was going to say something more. "You were about to say something else. What?" She scrutinised his face carefully, trying to find a clue.

"Nothing. It doesn't matter anymore. There a few more people here than I thought there'd be." He coughed awkwardly as her face broke into a gleeful grin.

"You weren't!" Arian laughed loudly, but dropped her voice when she realised that people were beginning to stare. "Planning on seducing me?" She caught the mortified expression on his face and chuckled. "You really are transparent and I'm not as dumb as I pretend to be. I tend to figure these things out quite quickly." She glanced around at the Garden students and gave a wistful sigh. "Ah, well."

The pair sank down to the floor, sitting with their backs to the railing.

"Arian…" Laguna said, almost listlessly, after a while.

"Mmm?"

"Can I ask you something?"

"You just did already." She answered, casting her eyes up to his face for a moment. "So what is this all-important question?"

"How old are you?" Laguna asked quite suddenly, shifting a little to see the expression on her face.

Arian blinked in shock, having been lulled into a false sense of security. "I'm not telling you that! Especially since you obviously don't already know!" She frowned, trying to think if she had told him enough that he could work it out for himself. "You can take a rough guess, so that will have to do to satisfy your curiosity. You won't get a specific answer out of me."

"I didn't know you were so touchy about it."

"I'm not touchy about it! It's just more fun to watch you squirm when you think you've upset me." She giggled, sobering up quickly. "Why d'you ask about it? It's never bothered you before."

"Just wondered. Squall asked me about it the other day and he wasn't impressed when I told him I didn't know."

"Does it matter? That you don't know?"

He tried to shrug indifference, a task made difficult due to Arian's weight against his shoulder. "No. Not important." He grinned suddenly. "But I'm older than you, so that means you have to do what I say."

"Like hell!" Arian looked mildly amused. "Don't even _think_ it."

"Me? I wouldn't dare…" Laguna laughed at her slightly outraged expression and they sat in a companionable silence for a long while.

Selphie and Irvine waved as they left and Laguna lifted a hand to wave back to them. He was beginning to wonder if Arian had fallen asleep. She had closed her eyes some time back and made only the slightest of movements when she breathed.

"You asleep?" He asked quietly, not wanting to wake her if she was.

"I've never understood why people ask that question. There is only one answer so it isn't even really a question… Or something like that." Arian replied without moving. "Anyway, I'm very obviously not asleep. I'm thinking."

"Dozing." Laguna corrected.

"No, thinking. I wasn't asleep."

"If you say so…"

"How did this conversation start in the first place? What did you want?"

Laguna waved a hand at the doorway. "I was thinking that perhaps we should be leaving soon."

"No." She said quickly. "Don't make me go back yet." When he nodded, she rested her head back against his shoulder and sighed, wanting to try and explain it to him, or at least to justify it. "I can't begin to tell you what I used to feel when I woke up. I can't tell you how many times I would wake up and cry, simply because there was no one there and I didn't think there ever would be. And crying made it worse, because there was no one to witness it. No one would've considered sticking around _for me_. Besides, I didn't want them or their pity." She smiled a little. "You stayed though. I've still no idea why. Was it pity? Or was there something more frivolous to it? Whimsy perhaps?"

"No. Just because." He tried to shrug again.

"And that's different to whimsy?" She laughed, her face gradually becoming more serious. "Why do you love me?" She asked, almost rhetorically, sighing in a kind of bewildered amazement.

"Another game, Arian? You play too many of those. This whole thing with Squall is just a game to you, too. I don't like it." Laguna frowned, then remembered the question. "What do you mean by that? You just want to be flattered!" He chuckled quietly.

"The thing with Squall, as you so eloquently put it, might be a game but it is a necessary game. I think he knows that too." She twisted her head back to look at him, a thoughtful look in her blue eyes. "Tell me why. Not flattery, just truth. I've never understood why."

Laguna looked back at her for a long moment, wondering how to answer such a question. "Because you're different." He said eventually. "You don't ever pretend to be something that you're not and you don't care what anyone thinks. You are always yourself, even when you play your games, or pretend to be more dumb than you are. I can't tell you anymore than that. That's all I can put into words."

Arian sat motionless, absorbing the information before she nodded slowly, accepting the answer.

"What about you?" Laguna grinned at her. "If you can ask, then so can I. Why?"

She flicked her hair back, irritated at having her own question thrown back at her. "I wish I knew." She muttered. 

"C'mon. You have to tell me. I told you, didn't I?"

"Okay. Fine." Arian sighed, looking for an answer. "You said that I always try to stay myself, no matter what. Well, it's connected to that. You don't try to make me anything that I'm not. You know who I am and all of my past, but you don't try and block it out. That's part of it. The rest…" She floundered for the words she was looking for, eventually resorting to twisting herself around and shoving gently at his shoulder. "You're _you_. What else do you want me to say about it?"

Laguna laughed, brushing his dark hair back out of his eyes. "I can live with that answer."

"You won't get a better one." She retorted. Her tone changed suddenly and she dipped her head, looking at the floor in front of her. "How long do you think we can stay here?"

Laguna gave her a sad look, not wanting to voice his answer. Arian glanced up, catching his expression and sighing.

"You think we should go now, don't you? I guess it _is_ getting very late… or early depending on your point of view. Ok, we'll go." The words caught in her throat and she felt a peculiar pain at having to be separated. It was company that she craved, wanting only to know that she wasn't alone.

"Sure?"

"Yeah. But tomorrow… I'm going to have a few things to say to Squall." Arian wrinkled her face in disgust.

"You're supposed to be being nice to him, remember?" Laguna rose to his feet, pulling her up with him.

Arian gave him a pained look, trying to find a loophole in the promise he'd extracted from her earlier. She paused, considering her life as it stood at that particular moment in time. "I hate this."

***************

She had only been back in her room for ten minutes when there was a quiet knock at the door. Curious about who could want to see her at this late hour, Arian was surprised to find Selphie, Rinoa and Quistis.

Standing to one side, she let them walk fully into the room and watched, mystified, as they each found somewhere to sit.

"Hi again!" Selphie chirruped. "Rin said you might want some company so we thought we'd talk to you for a bit."

Arian smiled, grateful for their presence. "Talk? What about?"

Rinoa grinned wickedly. "All sorts of things." She paused for a while. "Squall isn't terribly happy about me being here, but I told him that he has no right to tell me who to talk to and he's sulking now. He really doesn't like you much."

"You don't say…" The older woman muttered dryly. 

"He thinks that you and Laguna are a pair of sensualists who should take life more seriously."

"Does he now… I might have a few things to say to him about that. And Squall takes life far too seriously anyway." Arian shrugged. "Any other pearls of wisdom from the almighty SeeD commander?"

"No." Rinoa shook her head. "I just thought you might like to know. And I'm glad that someone else thinks he takes everything too seriously."

"Hey!" Selphie interrupted. "We think the same as you, Rin." 

"I know, but I was talking about the rest of the world in general. All they think is that he does his job admirably well. They forget that he's still so young."

"So apart from Squall, what else did you want to talk about?" Arian steered the conversation away from Squall. She could sympathise with Rinoa, but he wasn't her favourite topic of conversation right now.

"Well… see, when I hooked up with Squall, these two bugged me for a while, and when Sefie started seeing Irvine, we bugged her. Quistis," Rinoa paused to shoot her friend a slightly disgruntled look. "Hasn't breathed a word about who she's seeing. And don't look at me like that, Quisty. I _know_ you're seeing _someone_ and when I find out who, I'll bug you for details too."

Quistis smiled serenely, slightly amused by Rinoa's attitude to other people's affairs. "Rinoa and Selphie like to poke their noses in. I'm just here for… moral support, I suppose."

Arian stared at them in disbelief, the age gap between them suddenly disappearing as she realised what was being asked. "You want me to spill? Hell no!"

"Aw, go on… It'll be fun!" Selphie giggled as Arian curled herself up on her bed, making herself comfortable.

The woman paused for a long while, lost in thought, before looking up at the faces of the trio, a mischievous glint in her eye.


	2. Chapter 2

Unsettled Scores

Unsettled Scores

By Arian

"Laguna!" Arian hollered, banging on his door. "Get up already!" She sighed before raising her voice again. "Don't make me have to go in there and drag you out!"

"Can't. It's locked." A drowsy voice floated back to her. 

"What the hell did you lock it for? _Please_ get up. Squall wants to talk to us and you don't want me to talk to him on my own, do you? I could say any amount of inappropriate things…"

After a little more yelling and cajoling, Arian finally succeeded in talking Laguna into getting up and walked with him down the corridor in the general direction of Squall's office.

A thoughtful expression crossed her face, quickly followed by an evil grin, as she saw a small security camera installed a short distance down the corridor. Squall had tightened up Garden's security a while ago in an effort to prevent anyone with reservations about Sorceresses from getting to Rinoa. 

Still a little bitter about Squall's attitude towards her, she waited until they had walked closer to the camera. Deciding that they were close enough, Arian gently shoved Laguna sideways into the wall and kissed him extravagantly before continuing down the corridor, leaving him dazed in her wake.

"What was that for?" Laguna asked, bewildered, when he caught up.

"Lets call it whimsy." She decided, figuring that he didn't need to know the real reason. "If you can use that as an excuse, then so can I."

Arian stopped for a moment, letting Laguna walk a short distance in front of her before smiling sweetly and waving to the security camera. _Let Squall get hold of_ that_ bit of footage._ She thought maliciously.

***************

Squall looked away from one of the tiny monitors installed in his office. As it happened, he had seen the whole incident and he turned away, shaking his head. "I can't believe she did that. It seems like everything she does is engineered to torment me."

"Some of it is." Rinoa laughed from where she was perched on the edge of his desk.

"I don't like her." Squall said simply. "I'll never like her."

"She knows that. But you dislike her for the wrong reasons, Squall." Rinoa's face grew pensive and she looked up, searching Squall's grey eyes. "You don't like her… Does that mean you might accept the mission?"

Squall shook his head. "I can't. No matter how much I dislike her… I couldn't accept. Laguna…" He frowned for a while, wondering how to voice his thoughts. "I have to give her her due, she puts up with Laguna better than I thought she could, and she seems to care for him well enough." Squall couldn't believe it could be love; it seemed to be so different from what he felt for Rinoa, which was the only experience he'd had of that emotion. "I can't accept the mission. Not now, or ever, I think." He gave Rinoa a rare smile. "It's tempting at times… but no."

Rinoa smiled happily, satisfied with the answer and finding it endearing in a typically Squall-like manner.

"What do I tell them, Rinoa?" Squall asked helplessly, looking to her for guidance.

"The truth." She answered simply in surprise, any longer explanation interrupted as Laguna and Arian walked in. Rinoa slipped down from the edge of the desk, hugged Squall and then turned to leave. This was SeeD business and she'd rather not get involved in it unless it was necessary. She felt it was inappropriate for a sorceress to be involved to intimately in Garden's working side in case there was ever a time when she would affect its judgement of a situation. It was enough for her to trust Squall, confident that he was her knight and he would look after her.

"Bye Arian." Rinoa waved before she walked out. "Bye Laguna." She giggled slightly, her cheeks a faint shade of pink.

Squall tilted his head on one side, confused and staring at the door she had closed behind her as if she were still stood there.

"What's going on?" Laguna turned to Arian, who had also started to giggle a little, trying unsuccessfully to hide it.

"You'd really rather not know. Trust me."

"Arian, please tell me. I'm starting to get paranoid." 

"Last night I was just talking to her and Quistis and Selphie about some stuff. That's all." Arian said innocently.

"Stuff?"

"Leave it, Laguna. Believe me on this. You _really_ would be much more comfortable if you didn't know." She assured him, still trying to stifle the laughter.

"Finished yet?" Squall asked dryly, noting with a certain amount of distaste that Arian was wearing one of Laguna's shirts. Another one of her ideas deliberately calculated to irritate him, he guessed.

"Pray continue, oh mighty SeeD commander. My ears hunger for your words of wisdom." Arian declaimed grandly. Laguna tried not to laugh at her. He couldn't complain about her behaviour; she wasn't actually being nasty.

Squall gave her a long look, his face expressionless. "I have to talk to you about a SeeD mission that's been requested. It isn't normal protocol for us to divulge this sort of information but…" He shrugged, his voice trailing off. "Someone is asking us to… remove… Arian."

"Remove?" Laguna asked quickly, not fully understanding what Squall was trying to say.

"Kill, Laguna." Arian's eyes didn't shift from Squall's face. "That's what you mean, isn't it?"

The young commander nodded slowly in reply. He couldn't take any pleasure in this situation. He could've chosen this opportunity to point out to his father that Arian had been a mistake, and that he had always said there would be trouble over her, but he didn't. Squall knew too much about the fragility of life to use the situation as a means of getting one up on Arian. 

Arian herself didn't move but stared ahead at him, unblinking. She felt Laguna's hands grip her shoulders as he sought to pull her back towards him, protectively. "Do you plan to accept the mission?" He asked quietly.

A look of pure outrage showed on Squall's face. "No! What kind of person do you think I am? I would _never_ do that to you!" He cast his eyes briefly to the blond haired woman, who was still motionless. "Not to either of you." 

"He didn't mean it like that. We just know that you're a professional. You don't usually let your emotions interfere with your work." Arian's voice was a flat monotone as she spoke. She appeared to awaken and blinked a few times, looking around at her surroundings as if they were something new. 

"Do you know who? Who could possibly want to do such a thing?" Laguna looked completely confused, not understanding why someone would want to hurt Arian. 

She smiled suddenly, twisting around to look at him. "There are plenty of people to choose from. Not everyone's as fond of me as you are." She gave a slight chuckle at that, before turning back to face Squall.

Squall sighed, wishing that he could answer his father's question. "I don't know any more than what I told you yesterday. We don't know who or even why."

"Why isn't important." Arian looked across the room at Squall, her eyes serious and without a trace of humour for once. "It could be any number of reasons, personal or political." She paused for a moment, thinking that it could even be someone who wanted to hurt Laguna but she didn't voice that thought. It wouldn't do him any good to think he was to blame. "Personal enemies… I guess I must have made a few. I don't know their names, but I'm sure there are enemies…" Her voice trailed off as she remembered her past. 

"On the contrary," Squall said thoughtfully. "Why is a very important question. Knowing the motivation of a person can lead you straight to them. Motivation may prove to be the most important piece of information we could possess."

"Pity then. Because there are a million and one reasons and I cannot pick out any one that is more likely than another."

Laguna had been lost in thought, only half listening to their conversation. He fixed his eyes back on Squall. "Would you keep me informed of anything you find out? We're going back to Esthar." Squall nodded, accepting the decision without question. He wasn't going to object if they wanted to leave. 

"I… I can't look after her here. I need somewhere I know. I'm too unfamiliar with Garden." Laguna continued and Arian twisted to face him, consternation on her face as she saw images of her future in his eyes.

"Laguna!" She protested. "Don't you dare do what I think you're going to. I will not live my life shut away in a room in Esthar surrounded by guards. You can't keep me safe like that, you'll end up killing me instead. I'll stay here if I have to."

"Fine. Squall, would you keep a close eye on her? Or have someone else keep an eye on her?"

Arian stared at Laguna in dismay, realising that it didn't matter where she went, he was intent on keeping her safe. "I can look after myself." She tried, fighting a losing battle.

"With words, Arian. Only with words, and these people don't want to talk." Laguna watched as she walked over to the window and stared out at Balamb town. 

She watched the tiny people scurry around, ant-like and busy from way up here. _I don't want to lose my freedom, Laguna. Don't take that away from me. I've lost enough of my freedom to you already. Isn't that enough? Whatever threat this is, we'll find another way around it. You cannot keep me in a tower like the princess in the fairytale._ She spoke the thoughts deep in her mind, unable to voice them. 

Silence filled the room, Arian mourning her liberty, Laguna still trying to come to terms with what Squall had said, and Squall merely waiting, unable to give them any further information or advice.

After a long while, Laguna walked over to where the woman stood, still gazing out of the window. Whatever he was about to say was interrupted when the door opened. 

"I've come to listen to your decision in person. I –" The voice stopped abruptly on sighting Laguna. "Well, isn't this interesting… If you are who I think you are then that must be…" The figure broke off the sentence and chuckled. "Hello, little sister." The words were directed at Arian, with a sneer and a sense of pain. She froze, unable to move at the sound of a voice that she thought had left this world for good. "I suppose this means that the mission has been turned down."

Squall glared at the man who had just entered, infuriated that someone had managed to get into Garden and up to his office without being noticed. He guessed quickly that this was the man who had requested the mission and placed a hand on his gunblade, ready for any trouble. Taking a good look at the figure, he saw an older man, older than Laguna, his blond hair starting to grey slightly, but he had not yet lost any of his strength. 

"How the hell did you get in here?" Squall hissed.

"I have ways and means, boy." The man cast a glance at him, his eyes quickly returning to where Arian stood with her back to him.

"No… You… You're dead. I watched you die…" She turned to face him, flinching at the sight. "I saw it. I saw –"

"You saw me shot." The man's face twisted in loathing. "I saw you as I fell. I saw you, just watching. You wouldn't lift a finger to help me."

Arian backed away and her hand sought Laguna's as she tried not to be so afraid.

Laguna had been watching in bewilderment, then he remembered everything he knew about her and he realised who this man was. "Your… brother?"

Arian nodded fearfully and Laguna suddenly saw all his efforts going down the drain. Arian had become increasingly more stable since she had started staying in Esthar and now he saw that crumbling down. She was regressing. Her brother had made her the way she was and now he threatened to do so again.

"Get out. You done her enough damage already." 

"Laguna," Arian's voice was low, so it didn't carry across the room to her brother. "Please don't. This is my fight, not yours and I'm capable of dealing with it."

Laguna glanced dubiously at her, but fell silent, his green eyes flickering anxiously between her and her brother.

Squall stood, also watching, ready to interfere if there should be any trouble but reluctant to step into a situation he didn't fully understand.

"Callum, by what right do you come here?" The blond woman looked scornfully at her brother, changing the tone of fear for one of absolute anger. "How dare you still be alive! After all I contrived, all I did to bring you down… I had thought that fate cheated me of true revenge, but it seems not. Make no mistake, years may have passed but I hate you still and I _will_ have my revenge. It doesn't matter if you're alive now, because I will see you to your grave! I will _make_ it so!"

"Little idiot! You hate me for _nothing_! I would never have forced you to marry against your will. Never!" Callum shook his head vehemently. "Why did you have to make those excuses, those lies?"

Arian's eyes flared at that and her face fixed into a cold glare. "Lies? They were never lies! But if that's what you believed them to be, why the hell did you throw me out?"

"To bring you to your senses, Arian. I wanted my happy little sister back."

"I _was_ in my senses! Sometimes I think I was the only person who was… And the sister you speak of died when you stopped trusting me and couldn't bring yourself to believe me. She died with the trust."

"They were lies. They must have been." Callum said flatly. "How could it be true?" He looked up at Laguna, a mocking sneer on his features. "Your love for your ghost must be overwhelming, sister. The president of Esthar calls for a whore and you go running."

Laguna's eyes narrowed dangerously and he started to walk quickly towards Callum, not trusting himself to say a word. When he was a couple of feet away, Arian stepped in front of him, forcing him to stop.

"Get out of the way, Arian." He grated, his eyes not shifting from her brother.

"No. This is _my_ fight. You can't help me with this, you'll just make everything worse. It's between me and him."

"I'm not going to stand by and let him say that!"

"Laguna please!" Arian's voice didn't seem to reach him, his gaze still locked on Callum. She took a deep breath as she realised the best way to get through to him. Her hand flew through the air as she cringed at the mere thought of hurting him.

Laguna realised what she was going to do, but moved too slowly and gasped at the sharp sting of the impact of her palm with the side of his face.

"I'm sorry. Please don't hate me." She whispered. "But it's important that this is _my_ battle and mine alone." Arian watched him back away a few steps, one hand raised to his cheek, looking a little lost. Then she turned to face Callum again. "You couldn't understand me then, and you won't now. I don't have to justify myself to you and I'm not even going to try. I hate you to the very marrow of my being and I always have!" 

"Not always." Callum said softly, the hatred fading from his face to be replaced by sadness. "You didn't always hate me. Don't you remember laughing when I taught you to read? And what of the games we played? Do you remember the tree in the garden that you loved best? The one I helped you to climb when you were big enough? What happened to all that? Why did it go wrong?"

Tears sprang to her eyes for a second as she remembered her childhood, but she refused to let them fall. "Fond memories, Callum. That's all. The girl I once was is dead and you killed her. Don't blame me for your mistake. Reminding me of that just reminds me of how much I lost. I hate you for it." 

At that comment, livid anger filled her brother's face once more and he leaned close until he was no more than an inch away. "Fine! Live your stupid little misguided lies! It was always your choice to do everything you did. You can't blame me for it all! You had a choice! But the thing that angers me the most… I can still see the expression on your face as you saw me shot down. I can still see the cold, triumphant smile. No sorrow, no remorse, just that smile."

His hand flew up and grabbed her neck, gripping tightly and pulling her up until she had to stand on the very tips of her toes. "You speak of revenge, sister dear. Well I will have mine!" He hissed.

Arian said nothing, not trusting her voice to speak as clearly and strongly as she wanted it to. She didn't need to say anything; her blue eyes glared fiercely into his, saying her words for her and declaring her hatred with far more passion.

Callum stopped lifting her almost immediately, Squall's gunblade touched lightly to his throat and a threat flickering in the boy's grey eyes. Laguna started forwards to pull Arian away, but Callum flung her from him and she hit the floor. "I'm leaving. But there will be another time. I hold grudges as well as you do and this _will_ be played out in full."

Arian raised herself up on her elbows, ignoring Laguna's help. "So be it. I won't suffer you to survive, Callum. Remember that. You have no idea how much I hate you and what I would give to see you dead!" She spat the words at him, so angry she was beginning to shake. 

"The hatred is equal, sister. _You_ should remember _that._" He walked out quickly, away from Laguna and Squall who were beginning to edge towards him.

As soon as he had left, Squall strode to the intercom on his desk. "Xu! My office! NOW!" He yelled angrily.

Laguna dropped to the floor where Arian still sat. "You Ok?" He asked, reaching out gingerly to touch the livid marks on her neck.

"Are you?" She returned, tracing her fingers across the bright red mark on his cheek. "I'm really sorry! But I had to get your attention. Callum and me… our enmity goes back a long way, long before you ever knew me, and I won't let you be dragged into this. It's my history, not yours."

"How long does it go back? I know when it started, but how young were you when he threw you out and… How young?"

"Too young. You don't need to know. It's not important." Arian looked away bitterly, missing the murderous expression that flitted across Laguna's face. 

"I'll kill him if I see him again." He said softly, and Arian's long hair flew as her head spun back to him. 

"No you won't! This is fated to be between him and me. You will do no such thing, Laguna! I won't let you!" Her voice broke up suddenly. "I thought… I thought he was dead… All this time, I've thought that… and he's been… he's been alive."

Laguna helped her to her feet as Xu rushed through the door, resting her head down with her hands on her knees for a moment to catch her breath before standing to attention and saluting. 

"Xu, I want the man who just left this room followed." Squall gave her a quick description of Callum before he continued. "I want to know where he goes, what he does, I even want to know what he eats for breakfast! Then, I want you to find out how the hell he breached our security and got in here! Understand?"

Xu nodded and left, shocked by the unusually abrupt behaviour of her commander. Squall sighed angrily, still incensed by what had happened. He looked across to where Laguna and Arian were talking quietly and Laguna caught his gaze. "We're going home. I think that would be best for all of us."

***************

After two days of being trailed by Laguna, Kiros or Ward everywhere she went, Arian began to get annoyed with them. She knew they were only trying to look after her, but it was still very irritating. At first, she had tried to make them see that Callum would show up again, no matter what they did. She _wanted_ him to show up again. It was the only way this could be brought to a close. Arian wanted it over, and she wanted to win. Laguna didn't appear to understand that and thought that somehow they could prevent the confrontation that she was sure would take place. 

Squall had informed them that the SeeDs sent out after Callum had trailed him all over Galbadia and then lost him near Dollet. Squall had been extremely put out about that. The one thing that still puzzled them was why Callum had chosen to show up in person after being so careful in keeping his identity a secret. There appeared to be no reason for it, but Arian thought that perhaps he didn't care any more. It was her considered opinion that her brother was an idiot for going to SeeD in the first place. It was common knowledge now that the SeeD commander was Laguna's son. Arian guessed that Callum had probably heard that Squall didn't like her much and thought to play on that, but even Squall didn't hate her _that _much.

She sighed, looking back down the corridor. "Laguna, will you quit doing that?" 

"Doing what?"

"Following me around like a stray animal. I'm getting sick of it." 

He gave her a reproachful look. "Arian, if Callum managed to get into Garden, he could –"

"Of course he could! And he will! Accept that and stop trying to prevent it from happening because you can't!" She burst out in exasperation. She knew the reason she was being so smothered. After losing Raine, Laguna was not going to let anything happen to _anyone_ he cared about. Arian rolled her eyes discreetly at that thought. _Doesn't he realise that I have no intention of dying just yet? I want to confront Callum again, yes. But I don't want to die. And I'm not going to. Callum is the one who's going to be doing the dying. One of us has to. One of us will die the next time we meet._

"So if it's going to happen I have to stick around to make sure I'm there." Laguna reasoned.

"I can take care of myself." She grated for the umpteenth time. 

Laguna brushed his hair from his eyes. "You can't. You –" He stopped short when a short knife blade appeared an inch from his nose. "Um."

"You were saying?" She smiled sweetly, drawing the blade back a bit. 

Laguna sighed heavily and flicked his hand up almost carelessly, knocking the knife out of her hand. "Oh, yeah. You can take _really_ good care of yourself." He said sarcastically as the short blade clattered on the floor.

"That wasn't fair!" Arian protested. "I wasn't ready!" 

"And Callum's going to wait until you're ready, is he? He's not going to be playing fair, he'll be playing to win, the same as you. Now quit this nonsense about how you don't need us to look after you, because you very obviously do."

_It will be Callum and me in the end. You can't change that. It will come down to just us two in the end. That's the way we both want it._ Arian's blue eyes stared up at Laguna for a long time, thinking what she could say to dig her way out of the hole she had managed to create. 

"Teach me." She said suddenly. "Maybe you think you can help by being there, but I'm sure that in the end I'll have to fight with Callum alone. Humour me. Teach me how to defend myself."

"With that little knife?" He asked incredulously. "You can't be serious!"

"What's wrong with it? It's the only thing small enough for me to carry around with me. What else do you suggest?"

Laguna passed a weary hand over his eyes. "This is more Kiros' thing. I suppose I could ask him to –"

"No. Not Kiros. He'll laugh at me!" Arian was adamant on that point. 

"Yeah, I guess he would." Laguna chuckled. "I would be so much more comfortable if it wasn't a knife though. Guns are so much easier."

"Why? Other than the fact that there's less effort involved and you're lazy." She smiled.

He shrugged. "Long range weapon. You don't have to get so close. It's a lot safer." 

"But will you teach me? I don't care _what_. Just anything that might help me." She retrieved the knife from the floor and handed it to him, hilt first. "You must know something. And I don't believe that you can refuse to help me. You couldn't. It's not in you to do that. Please? Will you teach me?"

Laguna gave her a long look, deciding what to do. "…Yeah. Ok." He said, watching as she laughed gleefully. Deep down he secretly believed that she wouldn't ever need to know. He _hoped_ that she wouldn't ever need to know.


	3. Chapter 3

Unsettled Scores

Unsettled Scores

By Arian

"I'm dying." Arian groaned, burying her head under a pillow, feeling very, very ill. 

Laguna ignored her. She had said things along the same lines for the last three hours. He was getting immune to the declarations of suffering now. "It's just a stomach bug. You'll be fine."

Arian lifted the corner of the pillow to shoot him a sceptical look. "I feel like hell. Leave me alone. I'd be sick again but I don't think there's anything left in my stomach…"

He lifted the pillow completely off her face and smiled. "Let's not add suffocation to the list of complaints. You know, it might help if you ate something." The smile vanished abruptly when he caught sight of the dark bruises on her neck. He still didn't like to see them, even though they were starting to fade now. Arian missed the change of expression and carried on talking, making the smile reappear with her indignant tone.

"Eat? So I can be sick again? You have _got_ to be kidding!" Arian wondered idly if Callum had managed to poison her but it didn't seem like the sort of thing he'd do. She knew _she_ wouldn't get any kind of satisfaction out of poisoning _him_ and their minds worked in a similar way as far as revenge was concerned.

"Do you want me to call you a doctor? Odine –"

"Let that quack near me and I'll never speak to you again." She threatened flatly. "He's into research, Laguna. I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw him." Arian sighed. "I'll go find a doctor as soon as I feel like being human again. But for now, I think I'll just wallow here in self-pity. I don't suppose you'd consider staying and being sympathetic? It's not as much fun if there's no one to be sympathetic."

Shaking his head, Laguna stood up. "Can't. I've got some things to sort out with Kiros and Ward. Lunar Base mark two is going to be finished soon and we need to go through some stuff."

"Finished?" Arian sat up abruptly, ignoring the queasy feeling in her stomach. "And you're going up there, I suppose?" She paused when Laguna nodded cautiously. "Oooh, can I come with you? Please?" Her eyes glittered with excitement, illness temporarily forgotten.

"Well, maybe. If you're better. I'm not going to let you go up there if you're going to whinge about being ill the whole time." Laguna waved and left the room.

"Ok, I need to get better. Fast." She mused to herself, thinking happily about going up to the new Lunar Base. She really wanted to see the stars close up. But apart from that reason, she just wanted the experience of being up there, high above the world. "And in order to get better, I'm going to need a doctor. So let's find one."

***************

Arian stared across at the doctor in something between disbelief and dread. "No. That can't be right." She laughed suddenly. "You're mistaken. Now what else could it be?"

"I can assure you that there's no mistake, my dear." The kindly man held her hand gently across the desk. 

"Heh. No. It's just a stomach bug. Like 'flu or something. If you give me some medicine, it'll go away, right?" She asked, still not quite comprehending what he had told her.

"Stomach bug?" The doctor smiled. "No. You're most definitely pregnant, my dear. I'm quite sure."

Arian laughed again. "No. You don't seem to understand me. I _can't_ be. We… We kinda made sure about that."

The man's face filled with sympathy and he patted her hand again. "There is _nothing_ that science can guarantee as being a hundred percent certain of preventing pregnancy." He paused, correcting himself. "Nothing that isn't permanent, anyway. This does happen, every now and then."

Reality sunk slowly in and Arian's eyes widened. She shook her head slowly. "No… Oh, what will he say? We didn't want… Oh!" Another question hit her and she looked up quickly. "How long?"

"I can't tell you exactly, but I'd say you're about three to four months pregnant."

"That long? How did I manage not to notice? How could I have missed it?" She berated herself. "I didn't notice for _four months_? Oh, what do I do now? What am I supposed to tell him?" She looked up at the man with imploring eyes.

"Arian, I haven't known you for very long, but you're an intelligent woman. You know your options are limited. You must start thinking rationally again and accept your condition." He told her seriously, standing and leading her to the door. "And why are you so worried about what Laguna will think? He loves children and I'm sure he'll be delighted."

Arian nodded numbly, walking out and thanking the man. She was floating on autopilot for a long time, not really conscience of her surroundings or where her feet were taking her until she found herself sat in the shade of trees. She appeared to wake up and looked around her at the small oasis. They were _her_ trees. They were the trees she had wanted to plant to give the city a little of the greenness that she had loved when she was a child. Rinoa and Odine had concocted some scheme between them that would enable the trees to grow.

She smiled, in spite of the way she was feeling, when she sighted the small brass plate at the foot of one of the trees. Arian could only half-read the words from this distance, but she knew them well enough. She had written them.

_For making notions real and giving me back the moonlight._ The words were simple enough but she had noticed many people puzzling over what it meant. Laguna had known, though. He had actually been slightly embarrassed by it, more than anything. She could still remember the look on his face when he'd read it.

Arian sat on a bench and watched the other people that were relaxing in the small environment she had created. _This is a dream. No, a nightmare. I'll wake up soon and it won't be real. This isn't real. This isn't happening to me._ She tried vainly to block out the reality of the situation, finally having to give up and accept it. _He'll think I've done this deliberately. I'm sure he will. He'll think I've done this purely to get at Squall. He'll think…_ Her thoughts broke off as she became aware of how irrational she was getting. _What if he hates me for this? What if… Don't be silly!_ She chided herself._ He won't hate me. Just because we never planned this, doesn't mean that he won't be happy about it._ She vaguely remembered talking to him about kids once and neither of them had wanted them. Laguna was content with Squall and Ellone, and children had never really featured in Arian's outlook on life.

She frowned, realising more fully how Laguna was likely to react. The way he'd treated her after what happened with Callum was going to be nothing compared to _this_. After the way Raine had died, Laguna wasn't going to let her _move_, let alone go into space.

_I want to go with him. Well, maybe this'll make him stay. Yes, I think he would stay. But I really want to go up there, and if he doesn't let me go there now, I may never get the chance! Oh, it's so selfish, but I can't bear the smothering. He'd be so overprotective and I've had enough of that already. I'm not going to let him wrap me in cotton wool and keep the world away from me. I'm not going to tell him._ Arian decided, knowing that it was an incredibly selfish thing to do, especially after what had happened in his past. _I won't tell him. If he guesses, that's different. That's fair. But I just can't tell him. At least not until I know for sure what he'll say. At least not until I've seen the world from way up there, amongst the stars. Oh, please let him guess! I don't want to keep this from him, but I can't tell him. I don't know how. Let him guess. Make it easy for me, and let him guess._

I think… the real reason… is that I'm afraid. Just a little. I can't afford to lose him now. I could've managed without him, once. But not now. I could've survived anything once, because I thought that I had my revenge on Callum and nothing else mattered in the slightest. But… Callum is alive and I don't know what to make of anything anymore. I wouldn't lose Laguna over this. No, not over this… I'm almost sure of it. Almost. 

I'm afraid. I can't tell him. I'm too scared. I can't tell him, however I reason it out. I'll tell him later. There will be time later to tell him. Or better still, let him guess. Then I won't have to say anything. Please just let him guess. 

***************

The sickness was as inconstant as the weather had been in Esthar lately. It came and went without warning. Arian grew used to it, but still hated every minute, feeling helpless and weak as a small child. It sapped her strength and on the worst days she simply lay in bed, unwilling to make the effort of getting up. Laguna didn't appear to notice that there was anything unusual about her illness and was not particularly concerned about her. As far as he knew, it was just some kind of stomach bug, she had been to a doctor and soon she'd be better. Other than the sickness, nothing about her condition showed on her, to her disgust. She was still hoping that he'd guess and save her the awkwardness of having to tell him.

Arian was lying in bed, feeling grotty and miserable, when the three of them traipsed in. 

"It's done!" Laguna told her gleefully.

"Hello, Arian. How are you on this fine morning? I'm extremely tired and feeling horrible, thank you Laguna. I'm sorry to hear that. I hope you get better soon. So do I. Was there something you wanted to tell me?" She muttered the words to herself and then noticed the amused looks from her audience. "That was the first part of the conversation that you forgot about, Laguna." She informed him, dryly. Her sense of humour was all she had to keep her amused, so she used it to its full capacity.

"Um, yeah." He looked around for a moment, having temporarily forgotten what he wanted to tell her. 

"Lunar base." Kiros prompted, being unusually helpfully.

"That's right! The Lunar base is finished! Just thought we'd stop by and let you know about it."

Arian's face lit up and she pushed herself up. "Ok, I'm better. When do we leave?"

"We?" Kiros asked in amusement. "You aren't going anywhere. You're still not well. If you think we're going to take you up to space like that…"

"I'm… going… with you." Arian said through clenched teeth, her tone sounding pleasant in a deceptive sort of way. "Which bit don't you understand? The illness is just a hindrance. It's just on bad days I can't be bothered to get out of bed. That makes it look a lot worse than it is."

Laguna tilted his head on one side. "I really don't think you should…"

Arian smiled. Laguna she could deal with. It was Kiros who was the problem. "Laguna, do you remember that little promise you made me make, a while back. Something about not leaving you? Well, in order to keep that promise, I have to go up to Lunar base with you, don't I?" She watched him flounder for a moment as he tried to find a way around that, and then quickly followed it up with his latest paranoia. "Besides, what if you leave me down here and Callum decides to show up? What will I do if you're all up in space?" She put on an expression filled with worry and Laguna fell for it.

"Ward's staying here. He can look after you." Kiros pointed out and Arian glared at him angrily, convinced that he was going out of his way to spoil her plot.

Laguna shook his head. "It's not that I don't trust you, Ward, but…" His voice trailed into nothing and he turned back to Arian. "I give up. You can go with us. I can't let you stay down here with Callum lurking around."

The woman smiled happily, content that she had achieved her latest objective. She sank back into her pillows, satisfied. And then she heard Kiros laughing.

"She has you twisted around her little finger! I wonder what else she can make you do? Oh, this is _really_ funny!"

Laguna looked at his friend's outburst in mild outrage. "She has not! Kiros, you make it sound like I don't have a mind of my own."

"You don't!" Kiros chuckled, good-naturedly. "You –" He was cut off mid-sentence by a well-thrown pillow. Arian looked around innocently, trying not to laugh. "She's getting stroppy. You're the Arian expert, Laguna. Why's she so stroppy now, when we've said that she can go up to Lunar base?"

Arian laughed out loud. "I'm not stroppy. Just quit insulting your president, Kiros!"

Laguna winked at his friend and started speaking in a deliberately loud voice. "Well, usually when she gets this bad tempered, it's PMT and –" He was cut off by an outraged shriek and another pillow.

"Ohhh! Out! Go on! Leave me to be ill in peace!" She tried to throw another one of the pillows she had stacked up behind her, still laughing, but she slipped and fell out of bed. She lay wrapped in blankets on the floor, pointing at the door as Laguna started forwards to help her. "I'm ill, but I'm not an invalid. Get out, already!" She wasn't really angry with him, just intensely irritated because she knew how far off the mark his suggestion was.

Arian watched as Kiros followed Laguna, making some comment about how she was hypocritical after the "Don't insult your president" remark. Ward hung back. He walked towards her, picked her up and placed her gently back down on the bed. "Thank you." She smiled as he brought her back the pillows she had thrown and arranged them behind her. Then she caught the look on his face.

"You… you _know,_ don't you?" She whispered, feeling stunned that someone had noticed. 

The large man nodded, his eyes speaking to her clearly as a voice. _ I know that you're expecting a child._

"Does Kiros know? Has he guessed yet?" Arian was amazed when Ward shook his head. The quick-witted Kiros had not yet noticed. "You won't tell, will you? I don't… Oh, please don't tell!"

_I won't. That's your business. But I think you should tell Laguna. Don't make the same mistake that Raine made. And perhaps you shouldn't follow him up to the Lunar base._ Ward looked slightly disapproving, and she flinched away from the steady gaze.

"I _will_ tell him. Just… not yet. I can't. And I asked some discrete questions concerning space travel. I'll be fine. I know all about the method you use to get people up there and there's no risk." Her tone changed abruptly. "Ward, I can't tell him. You know how I'll be treated if I do. And I'm afraid… Just give me time and I'll find the courage eventually."

She waved at him as he left, grateful that she had found someone she could talk to about it. At first, she had considered talking to Ellone, but when she thought the idea through, she realised that telling Elle would be the same as telling Laguna. As easy as it would make things if someone else told him, Arian wasn't willing to let that happen either. If someone else told him, Laguna would want to know why _she_ hadn't said anything and he'd be hurt. She was still hanging to the hope that he would guess, but unfortunately, she seemed to be one of the few women who show almost no signs of being pregnant. _Just let me get up to the stars. Then I'll tell him. If he hasn't already guessed…_

***************

Arian lay in bed, almost asleep. Earlier, she had dragged herself around the building, looking aimlessly for something to do that would take her mind off of being sick. She had found nothing to occupy her mind, but the search itself had seemed to work and she had felt a lot better. The sickness was fading now, anyway. She knew that it had tailed off and was grateful for that small reprieve.

She lay on her side and watched the second hand on the clock for a long time, watching the tiny slices of time wing their way into oblivion and she wished she could sleep. Laguna lay curled into her back, one hand across her waist, his head resting against her face and neck. She cast her eyes up to see if he was sleeping yet.

"Can we talk?" She asked quietly.

"You are already." He answered. He wasn't so sleepy that he couldn't throw her usual response back at her. 

"Someone's trying to be funny." Arian muttered under her breath and Laguna snickered to himself. "Can we be serious for a moment? I know we haven't quite got the hang of being serious yet, but could we give it a try?" 

"I guess so. What do you want to talk about that's so important?"

"Um. Just stuff I've been thinking about. Just random stuff, you know." She paused wondering how to begin. "Why are you so very put out with my brother? That doesn't sound quite right… I sort of know… but… you're angry with him about something. What?"

He lifted his head and brushed at the faint marks on her neck. "He hurt you. And he said things about you that –"

"No. That's not what I mean. You were angry at him before that."

Laguna paused, thinking how to voice his answer without making her upset. "I've been angry at him for a long time. But I didn't waste time thinking about it because he was dead and that puts an end to it. But… when you sat down, years ago, and told me your story… I didn't like him then. And when you turned up and started living here… I saw that you were a little more crazy than I had thought. And he did that. He made you like that."

"Then you have illusions about me too. I had all my notions and ideas before Callum threw me out. You forget that. He didn't make me like that. I was always like that." She said quietly, closing her eyes in a faint sense of pain 

"That's not what I meant. You had your ideas, yes. But there's something there that goes beyond that. Something he put there. I can't explain it to you." _ He broke your mind. He didn't make you the way you are but he shattered your dreams and your mind. He broke your wings._ Laguna couldn't say the words to her. He didn't know how she would take the comment and he didn't want to bring the past back to haunt her again. That had been happening enough lately as it was. "I wish I had known you then. Before everything bad happened."

"So do I." Her voice was so soft it was on the edge of hearing. "If you could have known me when I was still young…"

"You were young when I met you."

_I wasn't. Not in my mind. I grew up very quickly. I had to._ She let the comment pass, and thought carefully, wanting to ask a question, but not sure how to say it. "What… No, that's the wrong way to say it. Hmm, this is a strange sort of question, but just how much do you love Squall and Elle?"

Laguna looked down at her quizzically. "Yep. That's a funny sort of question alright." He thought for a moment. "I can't answer it. I wouldn't know where to start. I only know I'd do anything for either of them. You know that, so why ask?"

"Just… just wondering, I suppose." Arian floundered. "Do you ever… do you ever regret Squall?" She asked quickly, the words tripping over themselves. "I don't ask because me and him argue. It's not anything to do with that. I wouldn't use it against him. I just want to know."

Laguna smiled and shook his head. "No. How can I? The only thing that I can regret is that I didn't get to meet him for 17 years." He said slowly, sadness in his expression. He lay his head back down and sighed. "I regret that Raine never told me and that I didn't know about him."

Arian froze for what seemed an eternity at what seemed to be an accusation. She knew that it wasn't purely by the tone of voice, but even so, she felt extremely guilty. _I have to tell him. After that, I just have to. _

"L'guna?" Her voice was starting to get slurred with sleep, even though her mind remained clear. 

"Mmm?" 

"I should really tell you something. It's quite important. I didn't tell you before because... well… that doesn't matter, but I should probably tell you now." She took a deep breath and shut her eyes tight, hoping against hope that he wouldn't curtail her trip to Lunar base. "I'm… ah, sort of… pregnant." Arian winced, waiting for a reaction of some sort. After a minute of silence, her eyes flickered towards Laguna, just managing to see his face out of the corner of her eye. _Ok, the stunned silence has gone on for long enough. I knew you'd be shocked, but… Oh!_

Laguna was asleep and hadn't heard a word she had said. After that, her courage abruptly crumbled and she resolved to let him guess. 

She knew that she must have slept, because the clock told her that there was a missing chunk of time that she had no memory of. For a long time Arian thought about going back to sleep, then she decided that she really didn't want to sleep. She was hungry. In specific, she wanted something sweet that contained large amounts of sugar. 

Rolling over, she shook Laguna, telling him repeatedly to wake up. She finally got some kind of vague response and he blinked sleepily at her.

"Laguna…?" She said sweetly, drawing out his name the way she always did when she wanted something.

"'m tired, Arian. What did you wake me for?" He answered in a suffering tone.

"Would you like to go for a little walk?"

"Tell me you're joking." He muttered. "I've got no intention of going anywhere."

She smiled endearingly. "I _really_ want some apricot jam. I don't suppose you'd like to go and get –" Her wheedling tone was cut short when Laguna got a premonition of what the rest of the sentence was going to be.

He buried his head in the pillow. "You're right. I wouldn't. Leave me alone." The muffled sounds drifted back to her and she chuckled, putting on her most pitiful and adorable face. 

"I thought you loved me…" Arian said, sounding like she was about to burst into tears, a sound that was completely feigned, but made Laguna look up. She had somehow contrived to make her blue eyes look glassy and tearful. "I thought you'd do _anything_ for me…"

"That doesn't extend to crawling down to the kitchen at midnight to get you a pot of jam." He said flatly. "Stop looking at me like that! You're quite capable of going to get jam yourself." He ran through that sentence again and frowned, confused. "Jam? Why jam? What's that about?"

"I'm allowed to crave apricot jam if I want to." She said defensively, purposefully choosing words that might prompt him into guessing the reason behind it. "And I can't possibly wander down to the kitchen because Callum might be lurking around here someplace and –"

"That's getting to be a really tiresome excuse, Arian. As I recall you were complaining about me babying you, but you don't have a problem with it when it suits you. Can't you come up with something better than that?"

"Actually, yeah. I can. You're going to go to the kitchen because I don't want to. I'm nice and warm here, so you can go and fetch my jam for me."

Laguna raised an eyebrow and laughed. "I think you forgot the bit about _why_ I would do that. I'm warm here too and I'm not going anywhere."

"Why? I thought that bit was obvious. Other than the small fact that you won't get any sleep until I get my apricot jam, the reason you're going to do this is because you love me and you want to make me happy." She smiled winsomely and kissed his cheek, giggling at his flat expression. 

"I give up. Alright, I'm going." He sighed wearily.

"Bring a spoon." Arian reminded him.

"You're just going to eat it out the jar? _Seriously_?" 

She nodded and grinned at the incredulity in his tone. "Yep. Is there some kind of problem with that?"

"Yes. It's disgusting."

"Well, you're not the one eating it, so quit complaining and go find some jam." She shoved him out of bed and waved sweetly. "Apricot, if you don't mind, Laguna. I'm sure you can manage to find some _somewhere_." 


	4. Chapter 4

us4

Unsettled Scores

By Arian

"Come _on_ Laguna! I wanna leave! Hurry up already!" Arian groused as he talked to one of the technicians at the Lunar Gate. 

"She really _is_ feeling better." Kiros commented. "What's the rush? The stars aren't going anywhere."

"I just want to get up there." Her eyes shone, thinking about it. "I want to get up there before you two change your minds and before anything happens that might stop this little expedition."

"Well, _I'm_ not going to change my mind. I wouldn't be able to bear the temper tantrum you'd throw." He grinned. "And Laguna sure as hell isn't going to change _his_ mind, either." Kiros paused and looked appraisingly at her for a moment. "And incidentally, while he's out of earshot, what do you _really_ think is going to happen with Callum?"

"He'll turn up again, Kiros. I really think he will. I don't just say that to worry Laguna and keep him fussing over me. Why would I? I have mixed feelings about that and you know it. Callum won't be content to leave the situation as it is. He'll let us stew for a while over it, and then he'll turn up again. I know, because that's exactly what I'd do." She looked up at Kiros with honesty written all over her face. "He simply _can't_ leave it as it is because it's all-consuming. He won't be able to think about anything else until it's through." Arian laughed suddenly, a short mirthless laugh. "One of us is going to die, Kiros. It can't be finished any other way. The next time we meet will be the last and one of us will die. And Laguna can't help me with this." For a brief second, Kiros thought he saw fear in her eyes. Fear, not for her life, but for the well-being of another. "I don't doubt myself…" She said slowly. "I never do. But… things don't always work out the way you plan them. Events have a way of twisting… so… if it turns out differently… look after him. I have no intention of losing against Callum, but it _could_ happen and if it does… Laguna…" She shook her head. "Just look after him."

"I always have." Kiros smiled. "He needs looking after more than anyone else I've known. He has this amazing ability to get himself into all kinds of trouble. And you're right not to doubt yourself. I have absolute confidence in your ability to get yourself out of any situation. You have a greater sense of self-preservation than most people. Everything'll work out fine. We aren't about to let anything happen to you."

"I know." She smiled brightly, hiding any doubts she may have had behind that brilliant smile. "C'mon. Let's go and nag Laguna or he'll never stop talking."

Kiros grinned and turned in the direction of his friend. "Hey! If you don't shut up, we'll never get to the Lunar base!"

***************

Arian stopped, mesmerized, at the first window they came to.

"Wow." She breathed softly, her feet rooted to the spot. Her eyes were wide and she craned her head to the side, trying to see more than the small window would allow her to.

"Its just space. A big, empty nothing." Kiros laughed at her reaction and walked on towards the control room.

"He's got no soul, that's his problem." She said airily to Laguna, tossing her hair back over her shoulder.

He shrugged. "We've been up here so much. You kinda get numb to it, after a while."

"It doesn't look so flat up here." She marvelled, turning back to the window, her eyes once again fixated by the sight. "It looks… more _surrounding_. It doesn't look so two-dimensional."

"Don't you find that you keep trying to see past the blackness?" Laguna grinned as she spun back to him with an amazed look that told him that was exactly what she had been doing. "C'mon. If you look at it for too long your eyes go kinda funny."

Arian dragged herself reluctantly away from the window and walked with him down the corridor. She was silent for a short while, still feeling slightly woozy from the trip. "When do I get to float?" She asked and Laguna stopped walking in confusion.

"Float? Whaddya mean?"

"You know…" She waved her hands vaguely at the air. 

"Oh, I see. Um. Not sure." He smiled suddenly, remembering something. "But you did already. When we got up here." Arian stared uncomprehending. She didn't remember that at all. "You were floating, as you put it, when they brought us round after the trip up here. But you were still half asleep so you probably don't remember it." He paused while she nodded, then an amused look crossed his face. "You know, you looked kinda sweet. Just floating in the air, semi-comatose."

Arian raised an eyebrow at that comment and started to walk again, trying to block out the sound of Laguna's laughter. "So when do I get to do that again?" She called back. 

"Do what? Look sweet? That doesn't happen when you're awake. You're far too bad tempered…" Laguna snickered, while Arian shot him a death-look. 

"I mean, when do I get to do the floating thing again? You said you weren't sure. Why not?"

"Well, we'll have to see when it's quiet. You know, no one going in or out. We don't want to get in the way."

Arian let that pass without comment and decided that she would just have to be patient. It seemed patience was a virtue she was going to have to acquire somehow. Apparently, babies required a great deal of patience too. And if Laguna didn't start to guess soon, she knew she would have to tell him. She was trying not to think about that.

***************

It was only a few hours before Arian got to "float". Although she was less than happy about the spacesuit, there was little that could be done about that. 

"Woah. This is… odd." She commented to Laguna, who was floating some five feet away. They had managed to argue Kiros into a position where he was prepared to do anything to get rid of them. Lucky for Kiros, all they wanted was one of the large transition rooms to play in. He had made some comment about how they were children but had done what they asked, if only to get some peace.

The large doors up the far end of the room were closed tight, keeping them inside the building.

"Don't move too quick or you'll… do that." Laguna finished lamely as Arian spun head over heels. She giggled in delight and found that every tiny gesture affected her movement enormously. 

"It's sort of like swimming… but not quite. It's like a cross between swimming and flying." She decided.

"Go flying a lot, do you?" Laguna chuckled, just hanging in the air and watching her as her movements grew less clumsy and became more confident. 

Arian shook her head fiercely for a moment. "Remind me to tie my hair back next time. It keeps hanging in my eyes and I can't do anything about it!" She huffed to herself in frustration, trying to blow the blond strands away from her face but only succeeding in making the situation worse. She looked back at Laguna and forgot about her hair for the time being. "Aren't you going to play too? I think we'd disappoint Kiros if we didn't play nicely like good kids." She grinned. 

"Nah. It's too much effort right now. That trip up here made me tired."

"Ahhhh!" She cooed unsympathetically, then twisted suddenly, causing herself to careen into him.

"Hey!"

Arian's laughter pealed out and the echoes rang painfully in her ears. "C'mon. Let's go. As fun as this is, I'm getting tired too and I think Kiros'll throw a hissy fit if he doesn't get this place back soon."

***************

It was some two days later when Arian looked up thoughtfully and suggested another idea.

"Laguna, when are you going to let me float in space? Really in space. I want to see the stars properly."

"No." Laguna said immediately, without looking up.

"Why not? Anyway, you can't stop me." Arian glared at him defiantly. 

He sighed wearily. "I can and you know it. You aren't going out there. It's dangerous."

She stared at him, unable to believe what he'd said. "You do it! So why can't I?"

For the first time since the conversation began, Laguna looked up at her, concerned. "I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want anything to happen to you. Is that reason enough?" _I can't risk losing you_.

"But you go out there and I get no say in that. That's hardly fair, Laguna. You're quite willing to let yourself get swept away into oblivion, but not me. Is that fair on me? No, it's just selfish." Arian stood and walked to where he sat, and looked coldly down at him. "You're a coward." She said flatly.

Laguna stood quickly. "I'm not." He told her in a tone that was a little too quiet. 

"You're afraid. Maybe you're afraid for me rather than yourself, but it amounts to the same in the end."

"Fine. I'll let you out there." He said angrily, walking to the door, but pausing before he left the room. "But it was no coward who slept next to you in that dreary town you called home. It was no coward who stayed because it was one of your notions. I didn't know you. You could've killed me in my sleep for all I knew. But I stayed, didn't I?"

Arian bowed her head as the door shut and sighed to herself. "I didn't mean… Why did I say that? What's wrong with me? Oh, but he has to let me make my own choices! Still, I suppose I should find him and apologise…"

***************

She had found Laguna and told him she was sorry, but he didn't really seem to take it in. He had just shrugged indifferently and walked away. Arian didn't like that. The indifference masked hurt and she hated herself for saying the things she had said. _It's not like we haven't argued before. He'll get over it. I've done my bit. I've apologised. It's up to him to be gracious about it now. And if he wants to sulk then that's fine! But he has to let me take the risks that I want to take. He can't keep making my decisions for me. My life is still my own. He doesn't own me. _I_ own me. _

Arian lay soaking in the bath, trying to relax. Her joints ached lately and she found that bathing helped, a little. She sank in the bubbles up to her neck, contemplating the colours that spun in each of the tiny spheres. Her hair was still dry and rested gently on the surface of the white foam, a fairy web of gold, not yet heavy with water.

Her head lifted abruptly when she heard the click of the door. _So, he's decided to stop sulking it seems. That's a start._

"Arian?"

"'m in here." She called back.

Laguna wandered in and froze. "Oh. I'll, ah, I'll talk to you later." He turned hastily to walk back out.

Arian laughed. "You don't need to go anywhere. Grab a chair and sit and talk to me. I'm bored."

He shot her an odd look, but did what she suggested. "Bored?" He questioned, sitting down.

"Well, I was watching the colours in the bubbles for a while, but it's lost its appeal now. You know, you might even be slightly useful. Do you think you could wash my back for me? I can't reach." She grinned.

"I think it could be arranged." Laguna said blandly. "You look sort of funny. Like a disembodied head in all those bubbles."

She chuckled to herself, realising that he'd forgiven the argument that had taken place earlier. "So I like bubbles, what's wrong with that? And what was it you wanted to talk to me about? Come to ask the advice of the all-wise Arian, perhaps?"

Laguna burst out laughing at that comment. "You might be smarter than me but then I've never claimed to be a genius. I think all-wise is pushing it a bit." He pushed his hair away from his face, coughing awkwardly. "I… um, talked to Kiros about you going out there." He waved one hand vaguely. "Is the day after tomorrow okay?" 

Her face softened, realising this was a peace offering, of sorts. She felt slightly guilty, knowing that perhaps Laguna wasn't the one who should be making the peace offering, but she _had_ already apologised. "Thanks."

Laguna's expression changed abruptly. "I can't keep you from doing things that you want to do." He said earnestly. "I don't want to. I haven't ever wanted to do that. But… I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want that either. I can't keep you away from the rest of the world, because you'd never survive that." A half-smile flickered across his face. "You love life too much."

"I'll be fine." Arian announced confidently, wanting to stop him talking. She didn't want him to continue because she already knew exactly what else he would say and it gave her a sense of foreboding. Unfortunately for her, Laguna didn't stop.

"If something… happened and…" His clear green eyes looked straight up into hers. "I can't cope with another death. I wouldn't know how to handle it. I think I'd go mad."

"As mad as me?" She smiled, trying desperately to lighten the conversation.

"Yeah, probably." He grinned back, and the morose subject was dropped. "You have to know stuff, you know. If you wanna go out there you need to know a few things first."

Arian nodded affably. "What do I need to know, then?" She watched as Laguna picked up a small book from the floor where he'd left it earlier, unnoticed. He flicked through a few pages idly. 

"It's easy. I'll just ask you some questions and when you can answer them, then you know it, right?"

The woman groaned and rolled her eyes. "Please tell me you're not serious. This is like a _test_. Can't I just read the book? I'll know everything if I read it."

Laguna shook his head solemnly. "I'm not letting you up there until I'm satisfied you know what you're doing."

"I'm not going to be _doing_ anything!" She burst out. "I'm just going to float out there and look at the stars for a bit. What's so difficult about that?"

"Nothing. But I want to make sure you'll be okay, so you're going to learn some of this." He waved the book and waited for her to answer. For a long time, she just looked at him with a flat expression that told eloquently of her lack of enthusiasm for this idea. 

"You know, you're getting positively stodgy. Fine. Ask me something." She sighed, giving up on trying to wriggle out of the situation. 

"Alright. What do –"

"Hang on a sec." Arian ducked her head under the water, missing most of the question. Surfacing, she took a deep breath and wiped the water from her eyes, her hair now dark with water and plastered over her face. She scraped it back and caught Laguna's inquiring look. 

"What was that about?" He asked, slightly puzzled.

"Just because. Now, what was the question?" She went back to contemplating the twisting colours in the bubbles, only half listening to Laguna.

"What d'you do if the oxygen starts to run low?"

Arian turned her head, very slowly, to fix Laguna with a certain look that she had managed to perfect over the years. It was a mix of sarcasm, disgust and incredulity. "Oh, aren't we a little ray of sunshine today." She drawled. "Quit with this now, Laguna or something bad'll happen. Stop being so morbid."

"You need to know –" 

"Why? _You_ don't know this! I'm willing to stake anything on that! If it'll make you happy, you can come out there with me, just stop talking like this! I don't like it!"

Laguna stood and walked away a short distance. "Okay. I'll go out there too." He cheered up considerably at that thought. "And I'll be able to haul you back inside if anything goes wrong."

"Gee, why don't you just tether my foot to the Lunar Base while you're at it?" Arian said, then saw the thoughtful look on Laguna's face. "Joke!" She yelled, amused, lifting her hand with the intention of flicking water at him, but putting more force behind it than was necessary, causing a small wave of water to hit Laguna. He watched the drips run down his hair for a moment and then looked up. 

"Flick water at me, would you?" His voice was somewhere between amusement and mild indignation. Arian was laughing hysterically, laughs that got more and more high pitched as he walked closer. She kept trying to speak, but was overcome with insane giggling every time she tried. Relief touched her briefly when Laguna turned away and started to rummage in a cupboard.

The relief was short lived. Laguna had found a small bucket and was filling it with water from the sink. Cold water, she noted. "Laguna, no. Don't you dare do what I think you're going to. Don't you…" She stopped abruptly, realising that he wasn't going to listen to her. She also realised that she couldn't run. 

Arian waited until he had walked back to her and then her hand shot out of the water and grabbed at his shirt. "Tip that over me and I swear I'll pull you in." She threatened, her eyes darting apprehensively up to the bucket that hovered over her head. 

"Nope. I don't think you're quite strong enough to do that. Besides, my shirt's wet enough already, thank you." He waited for a moment before speaking again. "What's it worth for me not to do this?"

"I don't know! Anything! Name it!" She tried desperately.

Laguna shook his head slowly. "Nope. Sorry. I'm going to enjoy this too much. Call it payback for all your sarcastic comments." An evil grin crossed his face.

Kiros had just tapped politely on the door to the main room and walked in when he heard a blood-curdling shriek and saw his friend emerge from the bathroom, dripping slightly but with a smug, satisfied smile. "What did you do? Murder her? About time!"

Laguna shook his head, unable to stop grinning. "Oh, she's gonna be mad at me when she gets out of there! Anyhow, what did you want?"

"Just wanted to know when we were planning on going back down to Esthar. If you'd like to enlighten me…?"

"Oh, in a couple of days, I except." Laguna raised his voice. "How does that sound, Arian dear?" He snickered at the cursing that could be heard in reply. "Where did you learn language like that?" He asked mildly as she walked out into the room, having finished dressing and now ready to kill Laguna.

"One day… one day I'm going to throttle you." She said simply, walking loftily over to the window and staring out at the stars.

"Okay, now Arian has done her very best banshee impersonation and most likely scared a lot of people, I'd better go. Who knows what they'll be thinking after that. I'll see you two later." Kiros left, shaking his head and wondering just what he had done that was so bad it had warranted him having to look after the two most immature people that existed.

Laguna shut the door behind Kiros and turned back to Arian. He was about to say something when he saw what she was doing. She was squinting out of the window, her hand held level with her eye, pressing her thumb and her first finger together.

"What… are you doing?" He asked, completely confused, walking up to her. 

"Squishing it." She said, as if it was obvious. She pointed at the planet that could be seen, resplendent in shades of blue and green. "There's a great deal of satisfaction in squishing the whole world."

"What do you want to squish it for? It looks so beautiful from up here."

"It does. It's one of the most captivating sights that has ever existed." She admitted, but continued with her activity. "But you see, I _would_ squish it, if I could. Because it doesn't matter. None of it. I don't need anything from down there. I'm up here, you're up here." She said simply.

"Squall's down there. And Elle. And Ward." Laguna commented. "Not to mention Rinoa and the rest of Squall's gang. You wanna squish them?"

"No. But everything that's ever hurt me is down there and I would be more than happy to see it go." Arian stopped and smiled. "You know, I have this immense curiosity…"

"Oh? What about?"

"Well… all sorts of things. I'm curious about everything, but right now, there is _one_ thing that I'm particularly curious about." She leaned back into him. "I'd ask you to guess but I don't think you're going to need to."

Laguna snickered quietly and she shivered as he kissed the back of her neck. "I think you've got the idea." She smiled, spinning to face him as he wrapped one arm around her waist. His other hand twisted into her still-damp hair and his lips touched hers before trailing down to her neck again.

Arian sighed and her face took on a dreamy cast as she idly wondered how it was the stars were suddenly inside the room. She was sure they were supposed to be outside. 

A tap at the door disturbed her reverie. "Ignore it…?" She queried quietly, unable to concentrate for long enough to ask the question properly. 

"Mmm." He sighed. 

Laguna looked up at her, his expression showing a peculiar mixture of serenity and bliss, the exact same feeling that she experienced. _No one has any business having eyes like that. It's criminal._ Arian mused.

His face had softened and was as guileless as a child's but had a look that was definitely not childlike. "Do you –" Whatever he had been about to say was cut off by another knock at the door, accompanied by a voice this time. 

"Sir? Mr Seagill would like to speak to you. He's in the control room."

Rolling his eyes, Laguna sighed. "Why does this always happen?" He raised his voice to the man outside. "I'll be right along." Lowering his tone again, Laguna looked back at Arian. "Y'know, I think there's some kind of conspiracy going on here. I think Kiros damn well _knows_ and calls for me deliberately. I'm going to have a few interesting things to say to Mr Seagill when I get down to that control room."

"Don't go. You can go and speak to Kiros later." She whispered, entwining her arms around him. 

"I should really go now. It might actually be something important." Laguna backed away apologetically, lifting one hand to wave. 

"I'll just stay here then, I guess." She stretched, cat-like, her arms reaching high over her head and her back arching before she sank into a chair. She was getting tired and wondered if she'd be able to catch some sleep while Laguna was gone. She didn't usually sleep well in the day, but lately she'd been so tired she'd had to. Pregnancy was taking its toll.

Laguna gave her a wistful look, then turned and started to walk out. He managed to get nearly all the way to the door before he turned on his heel and walked back. "Oh, let Kiros wait for a bit." He muttered, half to her and half to himself, as he pulled her gently out of the chair and into another kiss.

Arian grinned to herself, but pushed him back after a moment. "No. You were right. You should go and see Kiros."

"Arian…" Laguna said in dismay.

She shook her head solemnly, but the wicked little grin didn't leave her lips for a moment.

"You going to come and torment Kiros with me?" He asked, tilting his head on one side waiting for her answer. 

"I don't think that's such a great idea right now. Somehow, I don't think he'd get your full attention." She gave a low chuckle and brushed a strand of her hair from her face. "Just go and speak to him, then we might just get left in peace for a while."

Laguna sighed. "It seems like my whole life is a series of interruptions at times. I'll be back soon, 'kay?" He lifted a hand to her face and kissed her again, not really wanting to break it off and leave.

When he did finally turn and go, Arian abruptly found her legs giving out under her and she leaned heavily on the back of the chair for support. It seemed like her entire body had conspired to go boneless. When her limbs regained some of their strength, she raised her tentative hand to her mouth. _One of these days I must remember to tell him that you _don't_ kiss a girl like that and walk out. But I'm never really sure if he knows what effect he has on me and does it deliberately, or if he's clueless about it. Oh well…I suppose it'd get boring if he got predictable._

Arian was suddenly filled with an intense feeling of excruciating happiness. "Oh Hyne, I love that man!" She exulted to the empty room.

She made herself comfortable on the edge of the bed, retrieving a half-eaten pot of jam from where she had left it. She picked up the spoon, but hesitated a moment before eating, regarding the orange coloured substance cautiously. _If I spill this, I'll make the pillow sticky._ She reflected on that thought and carefully placed the spoon back in the jar before wriggling over to Laguna's side of the bed. She pulled her feet up underneath her and smiled. _Problem solved. Laguna can have the sticky pillow._

Arian let her thoughts drift for a while, not really thinking of anything in particular. Then her thoughts came to rest on a subject she was beginning to grow used to. It didn't seem quite as scary as it initially had. _I'll tell him. When he gets back, I'll tell him. He can't really stop me from going outside now. If he does, I'm sure I can talk him round. I can't keep this to myself anymore. I want to tell somebody. I want to tell _him_. _

Baby… She mused to herself. My_ baby… that's frightening. I never thought… But then, I didn't exactly predict that I'd ever be living in Esthar's presidential palace or that I'd get to visit this place. _That_ wasn't something I predicted would happen to me._

The thought came to her that this child may have been unexpected, but it was not now unwanted. She loved the child and she daydreamed of the endless possibilities of how her life would be changed by this. _A girl. It's a girl, I'm sure of it. I don't know how, but I am. _A picture was drawn in her mind. It was the image of a small girl with delicate, elfin features. Her yellow hair fell around her tiny face and a pair of amazing emerald eyes seemed to stare right back at Arian. The girl threw back her head and laughed, the sound hanging in the air.

"Yes…" Arian murmured to herself as the image vanished. "That's her. That's exactly right. But even if it isn't her, I shan't ever be disappointed. But I think that perhaps it was…" _You'll find out in a handful of months… _

She pulled herself out of the daze she was in when she felt a familiar change in the air. "Hello." Arian said amiably. "I was wondering when you'd show. I haven't spoken with you for quite some time. What do you think? It's a joke, isn't it? Me, of all people, pregnant!" She chuckled quietly, but stopped when she felt the mood around her change. The air didn't move. It never did. There was no breeze, but she did feel a tugging sensation. Something wasn't right…

"You're not angry at me, are you?" Arian asked, knowing that wasn't the problem. Her beloved Gwydion was above such petty behaviour. But there was something wrong. "Look, I don't understand. I can't understand what you want. I wish more than anything that I could, but you know that –"

Her voice stopped short when the door opened and a figure walked in. "Oh. I see. I understand now. It was a warning." Arian nodded to herself and felt the presence depart swiftly, unable to help.

The woman gestured to her brother to sit in one of the chairs and she did the same. The atmosphere was almost relaxed and casual. 

"Talking to your ghost, sister?" Callum asked, a trace of disapproval in his voice.

"Yes." She answered, unruffled. "I didn't think you'd choose up here as the place, in fact, I'm surprised that you _got_ up here."

Callum laughed, a short laugh that had nothing to do with humour. "Why not? And getting up here was easy enough. Esthar's security is very lacking."

"They didn't need it for 17 years, that's why!" Arian took the comment personally; reasoning that insulting Esthar was insulting Laguna, and that in turn insulted her. 

"But security was increased around the city soon after I left Garden. Unfortunately for you, your darling president isn't too smart and didn't think to do anything about the security of the Lunar Gate." Callum shook his head in derision. "What was it? Power? Is that why you picked him?"

"Oh, yeah." Arian drawled, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "He doesn't _have_ any, you idiot! Not really. It's a democracy. Why are you bringing Laguna into this, anyway? What business is it of yours?"

"I'm simply intrigued about why you stay with him. It's not love, it's not power –"

"Wait a minute! What do you mean? I damn well _do_ love him so take that back!" Arian leaned forwards in her chair, glaring at her brother, absolutely infuriated. 

"Last time I spoke to you, you were declaring undying love for your ghost. Tell me, Arian, how exactly does that work?" The man smirked, waiting for an answer.

She lifted her head and her face fixed in a disgusted expression. "I'm not even going to try and explain it to you. How could I explain the notion of loving two people to a man that can't even love one? You didn't come here to talk about Laguna. He's nothing to do with this. You came for revenge." She didn't intend to let herself get drawn into an argument over Laguna. That wasn't anything to do with Callum.

"Then we will dispense with talking about that, sister. I merely wanted answers. You see, no matter what happens, this is my last chance to hear them from you." Callum stood but Arian flew out of her chair to the other side of the room before he could get near her. 

"You are so very confident. Did you never consider the possibility that you might lose? Pride comes before a fall, Callum." She warned, beginning to worry about the air of absolute relaxation that Callum displayed.

"I won't lose. Even if you win this fight, ultimately I'll still win." 

The blond woman skittered further away as he walked closer. His words caused a sudden wave of fear. "You've done something, haven't you? What… what have you done?"

"You won't leave this place alive, even if I have to stay to keep you here. You'll be in the centre of an enormous fireworks display, Arian." He smiled, a rare touch of humour in his expression. "Have you ever seen fire burn in space? It's a beautiful sight. Unfortunately, you aren't going to be in a position to watch it. Neither am I, probably."

Arian's face filled with terror as she realised that Callum was right. He would most likely win. And it was because he was willing to sacrifice more, just as she once had been, some twenty years ago. Now, she had too much to live for and she didn't want to die. But Callum was willing to do anything to achieve what he wanted. 

"How… How long?" She guessed the nature of what he planned and asked the obvious question, looking nervously at the door, wondering if she could reach it if she ran fast enough.

"Twenty minutes. Enjoy life while you can." He answered simply.

She cursed quietly to herself. "Get out of here, Laguna." She whispered, too softly for her brother to hear. "Get out and get everyone else out, too."

***************

"Kiros, you can be the most _irritating_ person when you put your mind to it. And you say I'm annoying!" Laguna sighed after listening to what Kiros had to say. It hadn't been particularly important, just some routine stuff that Kiros decided he simply _had_ to go through. 

"You _are_ annoying. At least I'm like that deliberately, you just act that way all the time." Kiros retorted. 

"Act what way?"

Kiros sighed and gave up. "Ok, so if we could look at this…" He picked up another piece of paper and Laguna's mind started to wander. He nodded when it seemed appropriate but he wasn't actually paying attention.

"Laguna! Are you listening to me?"

"What?" Laguna's head snapped up guiltily and he flushed pink for a moment.

Kiros shook his head in despair. His friend's attention span was never great, but today he seemed to have his mind on something else. "Oh, forget it. I give up. You have the concentration span of a dead fish." He laughed. "Funny, you have all the charm of one, too."

"Thanks for that. What would I do without you to make mean comments about me, huh?"

"You'd get unbearable. _Someone_ has to take you down a few pegs when you get too impressed with yourself." 

Laguna just grinned at that comment.

"Sir?" One of the operators in the control room ran over from where he had been stood. "We have a serious problem. I can't be certain… but I think there is an explosive device on board."

The three ran back to where the man had been working and he pointed to the screen, showing unusually high readings of various substances. "I can't be certain… But I can't think what else it could be." The man repeated again.

"Who? And how? No, wait; we don't have time for that. Piet, can you tell us where it is?" Laguna asked.

"Wouldn't do any good." Kiros stated as Piet shook his head. "We can't start mucking around with bombs, Laguna. Apart from the fact that no one up here knows how to diffuse one, if someone slips up, we all go bang."

"I know, I know. Okay, start getting everyone out. Evacuate. Oh, and try to bring anything that can be salvaged. It's looking like Lunar base mark 3 is going to make an appearance sooner than we'd thought." Laguna sighed heavily. "Let's hope we have enough time to get everyone into the escape pods. I'll go fetch Arian."

"No. You can't do that." Kiros said, looking his friend in the eye. "We have to get people out. Right now, you, Piet and me are the only people who have any authority here. We need to stay here and keep people going to the pods. We're going to have to organise them, Laguna. People panic in emergencies. Arian will be down here when we put the call out. She'll hear it, you'd have to be deaf not to." He looked sympathetically at Laguna. "We don't have the time for personal concerns right now. You can't shirk your responsibilities to everyone else on board. You have to stay here."

"Let's get that call out." Laguna said simply, ignoring the sense of foreboding he felt.

***************

Arian waited until Callum's eyes left her for a second, then she ran for the door. He caught her arm before she had covered half the distance and pushed her back into the wall. 

"I don't think so." He said calmly.

__

I'm not going to die up here! I'm not! I can't_! I have too much that I want to do, that I want to see!_ Arian's thoughts screamed at her as she started to panic. _This wasn't part of the plan. It wasn't supposed to happen like this… Think for a moment!_

She tried to push her brother away but only succeeded in getting her arms pinned to her sides. 

"Callum! You don't really want to die! Can't we just leave? Both of us?" It cost her highly to say that. To even consider letting Callum leave here without fighting with him seemed almost unreal but she had to try. She pushed back her hatred for the sake of another life that she knew depended on her and deserved it's own chance.

Her brother looked hard at her, trying to determine if her offer was genuine. "Do you really think we can put this all behind us and go our own ways now? After all you did… _I_ might still have the… the _courage_ to let you go, but can _you_ forgive me?"

Arian sighed heavily, knowing that after all that had happened there was only one end, and it wasn't reconciliation. She couldn't let this drop. It was a continuation of what had started years ago and she had paid dearly for revenge then. She just couldn't let her efforts go to waste. "No. You're right. I can't drop it. Not even for… I just can't. When you can give me back everything that was taken from me, when you can give me my childhood back, then I might be able to forgive. But you can't do that." She hung her head as she destroyed her own chance of escape. She couldn't consider feigning forgiveness. It wouldn't be right, even now.

"And so it goes on." Callum said flatly. 

Arian flinched as the loud sound of the call to evacuate rang down the halls outside. The relief made her gasp. _They know! They'll get everyone out!_

"I wondered how long it would take." The man commented. His grip on one of Arian's arms lessened and she twisted it free, managing to pull out her little knife.

"Let me go." She warned in a low tone, trying to stop her voice from shaking. She held the blade tightly, steeling her arm as she remembered how easily Laguna had knocked it out of her grasp before. 

Callum released her arm slowly, his eyes fixed on the blade. Arian stepped away from the wall, not daring to take her eyes off Callum for a moment. She pressed the small knife in to his throat and simply stared at him.

__

It's not supposed to feel like this! I've been looking forwards to this for I don't know how long, and now it feels… wrong. I hate him! I do! But… there's nothing left anymore. She remembered how Laguna had tried to talk her out of revenge a long time ago._ He's right. It _is_ empty. I no longer have the slightest desire to spill blood over this. What happened still angers me and I wish Callum dead, but I can't be the one to do it. I don't have any inclination. Why sully these hands now? In a matter of minutes, the entire place is going to be a giant fireball, so why not just leave?_ She fought with herself for a moment, then started to back away towards the door. When she reached it, she turned and ran, knowing that he would run after her. She could almost see the small door that led to an escape pod when he caught her again, jerking her viciously backwards by the arm. She turned, blade still in hand, only to get her wrist caught. 

Arian yelped as the knife was pulled from her hand, slashing her arm in the process. She clutched at her forearm and glared at her brother as he gripped her shoulder. "You bastard! That was my own bloody knife!" She was amazed to find that was what hurt the most. She had managed to get herself cut with her own knife. She could smell the sweet metallic scent of the blood but it didn't hurt anymore. The sharp pain had numbed quickly and she only felt the stickiness on her arm.

"I have never been able to understand how someone so intelligent could be so stupid." Callum said bluntly. "Why didn't you just kill me? You were stupid. In a strange way, you always have been."

"You wouldn't understand it." She grated, watching as he flung her little knife far down the corridor. He didn't need it. For a moment, Arian considered screaming, but the passageway was deserted. There was no one left in this area and anyone who was still around would be too far away to hear her. "How long do we have?" She asked quietly, dreading the answer.

***************

"Someone's located the device." Piet reported. "Found by accident in the med lab. We've sealed up the area to make sure that no one goes near it, not that there's anyone left _to_ go near it, but it doesn't hurt to be careful."

"How long do we have?" Kiros asked quickly.

"Ten minutes."

"We should leave. We need to leave enough time for the pod to get clear of the explosion. We're definitely the last?"

Piet nodded. "Good point. I'll check." He walked over to a monitor, and started to press a few buttons.

"Kiros, where's Arian?" Laguna asked quietly. "I haven't seen her."

"Neither have I, but there's been so many people… I could easily have missed her. Or perhaps she went in one of the pods elsewhere. She'd have heard the alarm, Laguna. She's probably already left." Kiros looked up as Piet called them over.

"Two are still on board." He pointed at the two specks of red that could be seen on the screen.

"That's the corridor outside our room! That's her, Kiros!"

"You don't _know_ that. Hang on, where are you going?"

"I can't leave until I know for sure that's not her!" Laguna started for the door. "How am I supposed to leave, even if it isn't? I can't leave people up here!"

Kiros pulled his friend back forcefully and yelled for Piet to help him. "If that's Arian, she's just down the corridor from a pod. She's probably on her way there now. She'll be able to get out. The same goes for if it's someone else. They'll get out. We have to leave _now_, Laguna! I'm not going to let you kill yourself on a maybe!" 

Between them, Piet and Kiros managed to pull Laguna back towards the escape pod and Kiros sealed them in, pressing the button to launch.

Laguna bowed his head, tears standing out in his eyes. "Please be alright!" he whispered, trying to make it happen just by thinking it. "Arian, please be alright!"

Looking across at him, Kiros was unable to say anything that would help. "I told her I'd look after you." He said simply.

Piet looked up, wanting to voice a question that had been preying on his mind. "So if you think one of the people was Arian, who was the other?" 

Laguna's eyes widened at a question that hadn't crossed his mind. A nasty suspicion began to dawn. "Oh no…"

***************

Arian watched the blood run from between her fingers where they held her arm, wincing at the grip Callum had on her shoulder. She closed her eyes, trying to concentrate, torn between wishing that Laguna was there and hoping that he was someplace safer.

"How could you?" He said suddenly, after a long silence. "How could you just _watch?_ I'm your _brother!_"

For a moment, the blond woman simply stared, unable to understand. When the meaning eventually seeped in, a look of absolute incredulity showed on her face. "It was actually very easy. In fact, I would have been disappointed if I'd missed it!" She spat. "And you can't suddenly claim that being my brother gives you rights to my affections! You disowned me remember? You decided you didn't want a sister! And yes, if I had found your grave, I would have danced on it!" She realised that she had said more than she ought; the look on Callum's face one of rage. He didn't have any words that could express how incensed he was and he backhanded her sharply, knocking her to the floor.

A blow forced the breath out of her and she curled up and shut her eyes tight as he hit her, convinced that she was going to die. _This is it, this is actually happening. I'm going to die. Where's Laguna? I promised I wouldn't leave him. Is he safe? Baby… Oh, I should have told him! I should've… Which will be less painful I wonder? Dying now, like this, or in the explosion? It can't be long now._

Daring to open her eyes, Arian could see the door to the escape pod. _It's not far… I might just be able to… Besides, what have I got to lose?_ Her blue eyes watered as another kick connected with her hip and she bit her lip. _I'm not going to scream. I'm not going to cry, I won't give him the satisfaction._ Her body ached all over and it was an effort just to move. Slowly, very slowly, she readied herself to run. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her head and gripped Callum's leg, pulling with every bit of strength she had left. 

Not waiting to watch him fall, she ran, not daring to look back. Hearing footsteps behind, once she reached the door she slammed it shut behind her, reaching immediately for the button that would launch the pod. She could hear Callum trying desperately to open the door, but as long as she held her hand on the launch button, the door remained locked.

Arian felt the pod shudder as it broke free and she started to cry, tears spilling down her face in relief. She didn't have time to gloat over Callum or to strap herself in when the pod started to shudder again. The explosion of the Lunar Base rocked the small pod, sending it tumbling down towards the planet below. Inside, Arian's aching body was tossed around like a rag doll, unable to do anything to stop the ceaseless battering and not even having the strength to try. With nothing to hold onto, she was soon knocked mercifully unconscious.

***************

Escape pods were being collected from all over Esthar. Most had been opened by their passengers who then made their own way back to the city, but some few appeared unopened, usually because the metal of the pod had partially melted on re-entry, jamming the door shut. Teams of volunteers had been sent out to check all the pods and to help survivors back to the city. Some had minor injuries, but there had not been a single casualty. 

Simon found himself part of one group trawling a small area of desert, not far from the Sorceress Memorial. 

"Hey! There's one over here! Si, you've got the oxyacetylene gear haven't you? Well get it over here!" 

Simon hurried over to the loud-mouthed team member, carrying the equipment carefully. As the quiet one, he had immediately been volunteered for the task of carrying the heavy stuff while they searched for escape pods. 

He and one of the other men worked on the outside of the pod, cutting their way slowly into the metal. When a large enough hole had been made, Simon stepped into the gloom carefully, carrying a small torch. 

"Is there anyone here?" He called hesitantly as he ducked into the hole, being careful to avoid the edges, still hot from being burnt into.

"For crying out loud, Si, you've got to do better than that!" The sudden comment from the loudmouth made him jump and he dropped his torch before he had a chance to look around. He crouched down, hands skittering across the floor in his search. He started as he reached out and touched something clammy. 

"Oh god…" He muttered to himself before raising his voice. "Shine your torch in here, I dropped mine."

The loudmouth said something under his breath but a beam of light shone into the gloom, falling on a figure just in front of Simon. She lay on the floor, one arm extended far over her head, the other folded in close. Her head lolled to the side, long hair obscuring what could be seen of her face. 

Simon edged forwards nervously. He could see blood on her arm and her hands but he couldn't see a wound from where he was. Reaching down, he pulled her gently over, fully onto her back. His hand felt her neck for a pulse and her head tipped back, hair falling away from her face. The man swore softly.

"Why did it have to be me?" Simon whispered as he recognised the woman. He raised his voice to the men outside. "Somebody call the president."

Author's note: Aw, c'mon! Gimme a break… I've wanted to type that line for _such_ a long time… *snickers*


	5. Chapter 5... The last one. Hey! Don't lo...

Unsettled Scores

Unsettled Scores

By Arian

Kiros sat in silence, watching his friend fidget nervously in the corridor of the hospital. He sighed and looked across at Ward. The large man shook his head solemnly and Kiros refrained from making any comments. He wasn't really up to that right now anyway. In spite of all his sarcastic remarks, Kiros liked Arian and hoped that she would be okay.

He had caught a glimpse of her, once, as they moved her into the room, and he had deliberately blocked Laguna's view. Kiros didn't think it would help for Laguna to see her before they had a chance to clean her up. The last thing Kiros wanted was for his friend to see the state she was in and flip out. 

Laguna sank back into a chair after wandering aimless for a minute. "When'll they let us in?" He said for about the fifth time in ten minutes.

"When you can look after her better than they can, I'm sure they'll let you in." Kiros answered sharply, then sighed, seeing his friends face crumple. "Oh, I didn't mean to be so…" He let the sentence trail off. "She'll be alright. You know she will be. You know what she's like, how much she fights everything… You included!" Kiros smiled. _I just hope I'm not building up his hopes for nothing…_

Laguna nodded. The single hour between landing back in Esthar and Arian being found had been one of the worst he'd had to live through. 

His head swung up, hair falling into his eyes, as the door opened and a young man walked out. 

"She Ok?" Laguna asked quickly, standing up.

"She will be." The man cast his eyes up at the ceiling for a moment, thinking. "It's mostly superficial injuries. A couple of broken ribs and a nasty gash in one arm that needed stitches but the rest was just cuts and bruises. Amazing that she didn't break an arm or leg, really. It could have been a lot worse." Despite giving what seemed to be happy news, the face of the doctor still held the same solemn look. 

"Is there… something else?" Laguna looked worried. "You said she'd be ok, right?"

"Arian will be just fine." The doctor passed a weary hand over his eyes. "But she suffered a miscarriage. The baby's dead. I'm sorry."

For a moment, Laguna simply stared, not understanding. "…What?"

"You… didn't know? She didn't tell you?"

When Laguna nodded mutely, unable to voice any coherent answer, the man sighed sympathetically. 

"I'm very sorry." He said again, walking away down the corridor to treat the other people that needed him.

Laguna sat heavily and looked around at Kiros and Ward with wide eyes. He just couldn't absorb the information. Arian had been pregnant and now she wasn't. And she hadn't told him.

He rested his head in his hands and stared vacantly at the floor. He felt Ward's hand rest on his shoulder and heard Kiros speaking softly. "We're sorry too, Laguna."

"Why didn't she tell me? Why…?" He shook his head and carried on when there was only silence. "Why didn't she say anything? What… What did she think…?" Laguna continued on, repeating the same sentences over and over, unable to find any reasons.

Kiros decided just to let him be; there wasn't anything he could say or do to help, so it was best just to let everything run its course.

After some time, Laguna's mood changed abruptly. "Why me? Why is it always me? Someone up there hates me! Why can't things turn out right for me, for once?" 

"All this because your amazing run of luck occasionally runs out? Don't be such an idiot!" Kiros said quickly. "Bad things happen. That's the way life is. It doesn't happen to you any more than it happens to anyone else."

"Why didn't she tell me? She should've told me! I had a right to know!" Laguna looked moodily down at the floor again. "Assuming it was mine." He muttered sourly. "Maybe that's why she didn't say anything."

Kiros hauled his friend out of the chair. "Don't even _think_ of saying that to her! Not unless you want to be slapped into next week! Say something like that and she'll leave you for good, and you'd deserve to be left for saying it." Kiros yelled angrily. "That's below you. I don't care how upset you are, that was just… _evil._"

"Why didn't she tell me? Why didn't…" 

"And don't you dare start saying that to her, either. Self-pity isn't very becoming. She's in this too, and she's the one who's suffering right now. Not you." Kiros took a deep breath. "Now when they decide to let you in there, you're going to be _supportive_. Do you understand? Can you _do_ supportive, Laguna? Yes, Arian lied to you and maybe she shouldn't have. But it's not the end of the world." He released Laguna and watched as his friend sank to the floor in a crumpled heap, his hands over his face.

"…" 

"Yeah, I know. Perhaps I overdid it, Ward, but I'm not going to watch him screw up his relationship. I don't know… Maybe it wouldn't go that far, but he's in a position to make them _both_ very unhappy." Kiros looked sadly down at Laguna. "Problem is, it always takes so much to get things through to him."

***************

Arian opened her mouth in a silent scream when they told her. The sound was just too intense for her throat to form it. She couldn't even cry, to begin with, just kept screaming in that mute way, her eyes wide one moment, then shut tightly the next.

She turned awkwardly and buried her face in the pillow, trying to find something there that would comfort her. _I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!_ The words repeated over and over in her mind, though whether they were directed at Laguna or her baby, she didn't know. 

Gradually she dissolved into tears, crying her heart out. It seemed a crime. She hadn't even wanted the child at first, but now…

She didn't know how long she lay and cried. Time seemed to stretch on forever. There were a few others in the room, busying themselves with something. They had tried to comfort her at first, but she had shaken them off. Nothing helped.

The tears dried up eventually, and the crying abated. Arian wiped at her eyes and tried to start the torrent off again. She wanted to cry and never stop. This wasn't enough to satisfy her grief, but she simply couldn't make any more tears fall.

She lay uncomfortably on her side, her ribs aching. What had they said to her? Broken. And stitches in her arm. Yes, that itched, but she didn't have the strength to scratch it. Arian watched silently as the door was opened and she was left alone for a brief moment until someone else walked in. _Laguna. Oh, please no. Not him._

At the sight of him with eyes as tear-stained as hers must be and a look of deep hurt, she gave a low moan and turned, burying her face in the pillow once more, weeping in a fresh torrent.

At the door, Laguna had just stopped and watched her. Her skin was white as the sheets around her and only showed up the dark bruises on her face more vividly. Her arms were also peppered with bruises and he could see the cut that had been sewn up. He walked slowly over and sat next to her.   
"I'm sorry!" Arian choked out into the pillow between sobs, repeating the words over, unable to even think anything else. "I should've said something!"

"Yes. You should have." Laguna's voice was quiet and she fell silent, waiting to see what else he would say. One hand stroked gently at her hair and she lifted her face to watch him.

"Why didn't you?" He said simply, his voice beginning to break up. 

"Because I was afraid! How was I supposed to know how you'd react? Oh, I knew some of it, but I didn't know enough! And you'd keep me wrapped up away from the world, you know you would have! And… I don't even know anymore… I can't think… She's gone and I don't know what to do." She pushed herself carefully up into a sitting position and buried her face in his shoulder. Laguna held her for a time in silence, just glad that she was alive and safe, before he realised what she had said. 

"She?" He questioned.

"I don't _know_. But I'm sure she was a girl. I'm sure of it. I daydreamed of her up on the Lunar Base. Oh Laguna, she was the most exquisitely beautiful thing I've ever seen! She was perfect!" Arian smiled at the memory and sighed wistfully. "Now she won't see the sun. She should've had that much. She should've had the world as her playground."

"Will you tell me what else you dreamed about her? Please?" 

They talked for hours, imagining up a little girl who didn't get a chance. They built up a world around her, the way that children build worlds to play imaginary games in. No paradise could be as fine as the one they made for her, a nameless child that lived in memory.

***************

Kiros watched Laguna leave the office and sighed. It was too quiet around here. Kiros missed the bickering that usually echoed down the passageways. All the banter had ceased and there was very little noise at all. Silence filled the building. 

Arian had scarcely been seen around the place since she'd left the hospital and when she did appear she was pale and withdrawn, huddling close to Laguna and not saying a word to anyone. Kiros missed the atmosphere that used to haunt the building, but for now he refrained from making his usual smart comments and let the stillness continue. He was sure everything would eventually return to normal, it would just take time.

"…" Ward shook his head.

"I know there are still things I need to talk to him about. But he hasn't listened to anything we've said so far, so we might as well just give up for the time being. It's easier to sort it all out ourselves and tell him when things return to normal."

Ward made another comment and Kiros shrugged. 

"Yeah. But… Neither of them can bear to be away from the other for more than a minute. Getting Laguna to do anything right now is hopeless. It doesn't matter, anyway. We can sort out anything that needs to be done. You know that."

Ward conceded that point and sighed. 

***************

"Hey." Laguna walked over to where Arian was curled up in a chair and sat on the arm next to her.

"Is the world still ticking over?" She said in a monotone, not really interested in hearing the answer.

"Yes. Everything's still working to Kiros' satisfaction."

"It shouldn't be." She muttered bitterly. "I want it all to stop, just for a moment. It _should_ stop. How can everything keep going now?"

Laguna didn't reply. He sighed and turned his head away for a moment. When he turned back, Arian's gaze was fixed on something in front of her, something he couldn't see. "What is it?" He asked, worried, but she didn't seem to hear him. Her lips were moving, silently speaking words. She cried out suddenly and clutched at her arm. 

Starting to get concerned, Laguna shook her gently and she snapped out of her daze. "He is dead, isn't he? Callum? I thought he was dead before… but…"

"He's gone, Arian. He was on the Base when it blew up. He died in his own explosion. He's not going to come back again." He pulled her into his side and her head lolled listlessly against him.

"I keep seeing it. I keep seeing him. He _is_ dead, you say? Oh, he must be, he must be! I can't keep seeing this. I can't keep… It's exhausting me! Too much has happened. I wish I could be sure of Callum. I won't make the same mistake twice." 

Laguna rocked her gently for a moment, trying to decide what to say. "He's dead. He won't be back." When Arian was silent, he changed the subject, choosing his words carefully. "I've been… sort of thinking… and you could have another baby. You don't… I mean…" 

She studied his face in silence, eventually heaving a sigh. "Do you really want that, or do you just want something to fill the hole?" She said gently. When there was no reply, she guessed the answer. "No. This wouldn't be for the right reasons. It's the wrong way to do this. Not now. Not like this. One day, when we're both rational again, we'll talk some more and see what we think then."

"You're right. You know it, too. It was just that…" Laguna's voice tailed off into nothing and Arian looked up at him again. 

"Do you mind if I start crying again? It seems to help. I _feel_ like crying again. It's the most addictive thing…" She smiled weakly, managing to win back a smile that mirrored her own.

"Sure. You have as much right to cry as anyone else. Go ahead." 

"I wasn't planning on waiting for your permission anyway." She curved her lips but the smile had gone and tears coursed down her cheeks.

***************

Squall and Rinoa visited a few days later. They had heard about the Lunar Base and Kiros filled them in on the details, leaving out the fact that Arian had been pregnant. He figured that it didn't matter too much now. Now that the information was no longer relevant, Squall didn't need to know, he decided. The last thing Kiros wanted was Squall throwing a hissy fit about that and upsetting everyone all over again. 

Ward and him were stood with them, waiting for Laguna and Arian to show up. Ellone was perched on the edge of a chair, her expression more low-spirited than it usually was. Squall was behaving oddly, for him. The usually deadpan boy almost glowed and he fidgeted slightly while he waited, reminding Kiros of Laguna, just a little. Rinoa leaned back against the desk edge, not looking as animated as Squall, but with a smug, secretive smile on her face.

When the door opened and Laguna walked in, Arian tucked under his arm, Squall stopped fidgeting for a moment and stood motionless. He'd been told what happened but he still didn't expect her to look so drained. The bruises still showed up in a viciously dark contrast to her pale skin and there was no hint of a smile anywhere.

"Hiya Squall, Rinoa. How are things in Garden?" Laguna asked with a half smile. "You're such a workaholic I'm surprised you took a break and came over here."

Squall's eyes brightened up immediately, remembering his reason for being there. "You want to tell them, or shall I?" He asked Rinoa.

"You go right ahead." She smiled, interested to see what words he would use.

"We're… well, Rinoa's going to have a baby! Isn't it great?!" Squall blurted out, an inane grin on his face.

Arian stared ahead for a moment, then bolted from the room, sobbing. Squall's grin fell away to be replaced by confusion. "It _is_ good news, isn't it? What did I say?" He turned to Laguna for some kind of explanation but Laguna looked anxiously at the door and started to back away. 

"It's great, Squall. Really. It's just… great." Laguna managed, trying to sound sincere before leaving to look for Arian.

"Kiros, what's going on? I thought they'd be pleased. Or something. I don't know. I thought it was a good thing. Why are they so upset?" Squall looked earnestly back

Ellone smiled, standing and putting her arms around Squall. "It _is_ a good thing. It's wonderful! But… some things have happened that you don't know about. It's just unfortunate timing, that's all." She looked over at Kiros. "Will you explain? I'd rather not."

Kiros looked uncomfortable but nodded. "Arian was pregnant when we were up on the Lunar Base. We didn't know at the time, but she knew." 

"_What?!_" Squall burst out, unable to contain his shock. 

"Do you want to hear this or not?" Kiros asked pointedly, trying to curtail the small explosion Squall was likely to make about this. "For her own reasons, or maybe for no reason at all, she decided not to tell Laguna. Not at that point in time, anyway."

"Ooh. That's an icky situation. I bet _that_ went down well." Rinoa commented, reaching out to hold Squall's hand, stopping further outbursts in her own way.

Kiros sighed. "Basically, after her encounter with Callum and then being thrown around in that escape pod, she lost the baby. That's why her and Laguna aren't exactly leaping for joy right now. Your news could be better timed. But it _is_ good, and they'll be happy for you, just as soon as they get over this." Kiros shrugged. "I guess you need to hear it from them really. I'll see if I can dig them out of whatever hole they've crawled into."

Squall stood completely still, stunned by the idea. Rinoa shook his shoulder gently as Kiros left the room. "Squall? You ok?"

"I…" He blinked and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't really know what to think… I… had a half-sibling. Or something. I don't know… I don't have anymore, but I _did_. Just for a while… I… feel so sorry for her." He blinked again at the unexpected feeling. Feeling sorry for Arian was an alien concept to Squall but he hadn't come to Esthar to deliberately upset her. Now he was in the position of impending parenthood, he could understand some of what Arian and Laguna might be feeling and he sighed to himself.

Rinoa looked critically at Squall, surprised at his reaction. She decided to test his newfound sense of sympathy further. "It's such a shame…" She waited to see what he'd say to that comment.

Squall tilted his head at her for a moment, frowning. "Is it? I suppose it is…" He conceded, and Rinoa nodded, realising that his empathy for Arian might now run deeper but it wasn't _that_ deep. There was still enmity there; it was just softened. "Might have been good for them. A bit of responsibility. They'd finally have to grow up." He commented dryly, but he found himself wishing to hear their banter again, hoping that they wouldn't change.

"You wouldn't want them any different really, Squall. You wouldn't really want them to be sensible and dour. They make you more alive the way they are." Rinoa smiled as he started visibly. "They somehow dispel your own serious nature, and I think you like that, don't you?"

Squall blinked and gaped at her. He would never admit the truth of anything that Rinoa had said to anyone except her. He didn't reply, the expression on his face giving her the answer she needed. "I want to tell Arian that I'm sorry. I want to apologise to them and… I don't know. I want to speak to them. Do you think they'll let me?" He whispered.

Rinoa smiled in reassurance. "Of course they will."

***************

Laguna quietly opened the door to Arian's room. She lay curled up on her side, facing away from him, crying softly. She didn't hear the door open, or if she did, she paid it no attention. One hand held tightly to the pillow under her head and her frame shook with the weight of her tears. Laguna found tears in his own eyes, just watching.

The emotions of those around him always affected him in that way. He could be moved to any feeling, from laughter to despair, by the mood of other people. But now the tears were partly for himself, for his own feelings.

He walked soundlessly over, kicking off his shoes as he went and wincing at the seemingly loud thump as they hit the floor.

Arian said nothing, although whether it was through indifference or because she wasn't coherent enough to realise that he was there, Laguna didn't know. He lay next to her and turned her over to face him, pulling her head into his shoulder and holding it there while she cried. 

Time seemed to halt its relentless march for a while and Laguna said nothing, just holding her and not wishing to voice what he was thinking. _You shouldn't have had to go through this. Haven't you had enough grief? Why has it seemed to pick you out and make you its own? One day, you'll be able to stop the tears flowing. One day, things will seem better, brighter than they do now. We both know that from our own experiences. But it shouldn't stop yet. It's not right for it to stop yet._

He thought he heard her speak once. Just a muttered apology and a thank you. He wasn't sure, maybe she had said nothing. It didn't need words anyway. Arian's sobs wracked both their bodies until it tailed off into nothing.

"Laguna…?" Kiros' voice came quietly from the open doorway and Laguna twisted his head slightly.

"You need to speak to Squall and Rinoa. They need to know from you." Kiros continued, his voice still hushed. "They think they've done something wrong or… You should sort it with them. It's just unfortunate, that's all. They need to know that."

Laguna nodded. "You feeling up to talking?" He whispered.

Arian sniffed and wiped at her face, trying to rub away the trails that had been left down her cheeks. "Yeah. It's not their fault. They shouldn't think that."

***************

Squall looked up, slightly startled, as Laguna and Arian entered. Arian had tried to wash away the traces of her crying fit but the red marks down her face were still painfully visible and her eyes were still watery. 

"I'm really sorry!" Squall blurted out quickly, stringing words together quickly in his rush to explain. "We didn't know! We thought…"

"I know!" Arian cried out suddenly. "And it's not your fault! Don't…" She shook her head. "It's good that you and Rinoa have this to share. It'll be wonderful for you. Don't try and avoid mentioning it around me or anything like that. It's not necessary. I _want_ to hear about it."

Rinoa smiled brightly and hugged the blonde woman instinctively. "Thank you!" She paused for a moment, hesitating to ask the question. "Do you… Would you like to come over to Garden sometime and help us decorate? We're decorating a room to be a nursery and we could do with a hand…"

Laguna grinned, knowing full well that Rinoa had the whole of Garden to help if she chose. She had deliberately asked them though, trying to help heal a wound. He looked at Arian inquisitively. It was up to her. In a strange way, this was for her benefit so it was her decision.

"That would be really nice." Arian accepted gratefully, frowning instantly as she said it. "That word again… It's overused! I should be able to think of something better!"

"We'll see you sometime soon then." Squall said, making the decision to leave. He didn't want to stick around while the sense of gloom and doom still hung in the air. He didn't like it. And he wasn't overly happy about Rinoa's impromptu invitation. 

***************

It was some weeks later when Arian and Laguna arrived at Garden. Squall had been hoping wildly that they'd forgotten about the invitation. 

"Isn't this going to be _fun_?" He drawled to Rinoa. "I might be insensitive, but now we get to decorate, which is always tedious anyway, with Arian crying every two minutes and Laguna cooing over her like a lost pigeon." Squall sighed. "It's not that I mind about the crying… But I'd rather not have it inflicted on me while I'm trying to paint."

Rinoa thumped his shoulder lightly. "Yes. You _are_ insensitive. She's allowed to cry if she wants. And you aren't going to say a thing about it."

She picked up a can of paint and inspected it carefully before replacing it on the floor and absently wiping her hands on the old overalls she wore. She was about to start arguing with Squall about the colour the room should be painted, when she heard a noise in the distance. It sounded almost like… laughter.

Squall looked over at her with a mild frown on his face. "That what I think it is?" He heard the sound again, closer this time. It was definitely a laugh. And it was Arian's. Squall could barely suppress the relief that coursed through him. Things were looking up.

"You are such a bad liar! I _know_ that's not right! There's no way Squall'd let Rinoa paint the nursery lime green." Arian's giggling interrupted the rest of her sentence. "Besides, I know for a fact that Squall wants to paint it a nice shade of black. It's his favourite colour…" She sniggered and burst into giggles again as she pushed open the door.

"Hey, Squall. Do you _really_ want to paint this room black? I don't think it's very… suitable." Laguna snickered quietly at the frown on Squall's face before realising that he was getting as bad as Arian and stopped abruptly. "Anyhow, we're here to help. Or something."

"Something'd be right…" Squall muttered.

"So what colour?" Arian asked.

Rinoa shrugged. "We're not sure… I think we're going to settle on mint green though."

"But it's a girl. You should've chosen pink." Laguna smiled.

Squall rolled his eyes. "A whole room? Pink? You've got to be kidding!"

"Yeah." The blond woman surprisingly sided with Squall. "It'd be so… cliché. Pink? Laguna, are you out of your mind?"

"Does he have one?" Squall grinned, winning a smile from Arian and a dirty look from his father.

"I've never seen any evidence that would confirm that theory." She said seriously. 

"I don't know which is better. You two arguing or you two uniting to pick on me…" Laguna grumbled, picking up a paintbrush and starting work on a wall. 

Arian raised an eyebrow. "Uniting against a common enemy…" She chuckled. 

"Quiet. I'm concentrating." Laguna said, sulking a little. He had wanted Arian to stop picking on Squall but this hadn't been what he had in mind.

"And you need to concentrate on painting a wall?" Squall asked incredulously.

"He's very serious about his work." Arian nodded sagely, grinning as Laguna spun around and glared at her. "There's no need to be like that!" She chided, starting to paint as well.

Rinoa sighed and wondered why the world had suddenly gone mad. It was nice to have everything normal again though. She watched out of the corner of her eye as Laguna stopped sulking and grinned secretively when she heard the banter beginning again. She turned to see Squall's face.

He was watching Arian and Laguna, almost mesmerized. And he was smiling, feeling content on hearing their usual squabbling.

After a while, Arian turned back to Squall and grinned. "I don't know. Old people get very bad-tempered sometimes. I think senile dementia is starting to set in."

"I'm not old." Laguna grumbled.

"Course not." Arian said, in a patronising tone of voice. 

"I'm _not!_" 

Arian grinned again. "I didn't say a word. Are you beginning to hear voices? There's a name for people like that…"

"Yeah. People-who-have-been-overexposed-to-a-vicious-sense-of-humour."

"I don't have a vicious sense of humour. It's just… different." She said defensively and it was Laguna's turn to grin.

He glanced across at Rinoa who was taking a break. "You ok?"

She smiled back and nodded. "I just get tired easily. It's quite annoying actually. My mind's willing, but my body just doesn't seem to want to make the effort. I've taken to napping during the day, which I hate. It throws everything." A mischievous grin lit her face and she glanced slyly at Squall. "Squall's found any number of interesting ways to wake me up."

The young SeeD Commander flushed deep crimson and turned away, having been thoroughly embarrassed. "Rinoa…" He protested weakly.

She laughed gleefully, clapping her hands together in delight. "You clash with the walls, Squall! Red and mint green don't go very well."

"Whatever you do, don't try and wake her up by kissing her." Arian advised.

Squall looked up in confusion, frowning slightly. "Why?"

"Arian, they don't need to know this. Let's get on with the painting." Laguna said a bit too quickly, already realising where the conversation was heading.

Regarding Laguna's apprehensive expression, Squall shook his head, grinning maliciously. "No, I want to hear this." 

"You don't, Squall. Believe me. It's not that good a story, anyway, so let's leave it." Laguna was getting increasingly more edgy and Squall was getting more determined to hear what this was about, purely because Laguna didn't want him to.

"Go on, Arian." Squall ignored his father's complaints.

"Well, see… hey! Stop looking at me like that, Laguna! No one's out to kill you. We're just going to embarrass you a bit." She giggled. "Basically, he had a similar idea, not so long ago. Problem was, I had a bit of a cold. I woke up, couldn't breathe and I, um, panicked."

"Well, yeah, that's _one_ word for it." Laguna put in, sourly.

"Oh, stop whining." Arian sniggered. "I don't think you'll be tempted to try _that_ again."

"What did you do? I don't understand." Rinoa asked.

Arian had the decency to look slightly sheepish. "I bit his lip." She said quietly and Squall and Rinoa both burst into laughter. "Accidentally." She added quickly. "I didn't mean to!"

"It still _hurt_!" Laguna protested.

"It's not like I drew blood or anything. You'll get over it."

"I'll get over it when you stop dragging the story out of the closet every time you want a laugh." 

Arian giggled again. "But it's _so_ funny!"

Eventually recovering from their bout of hysterical laughter, Squall and Rinoa continued with the painting. After managing to cover one and a half walls with the pale green paint, they broke for lunch. 

Squall got some sandwiches to be brought up to the room and they sat on the floor to eat. 

"We were thinking about names." He said quietly as they ate. He looked across at Rinoa and she nodded. "We were wondering if you'd like us to call the baby Raine. What do you think?"

Laguna smiled and shook his head. "What are you asking me for? It's up to _you._ But, personally, I think she should have her own identity. She'll have enough to live up to, without giving her a namesake as well. She should be her own person."

Rinoa smiled and looked at Squall. "I told you he wouldn't mind if we called her something else."

"What name do you have in mind?" Arian asked curiously.

"We're not really sure yet. We've just been going through names and picking out some that we like, but we don't have a firm favourite yet." Rinoa shrugged.

Squall and Rinoa started talking quietly amongst themselves, waiting for Arian to finish her sandwiches so they could start painting again.

Arian scratched absently at her arm. The stitches had been removed a while ago, but the healing skin itched fiercely.

"Don't do that. You're supposed to leave it alone." Laguna told her.

She frowned at him. "It itches!" 

"It'll get better if you leave it alone."

"Yes, mother." She drawled sarcastically, but left her arm alone for the time being.

"C'mon, Arian." Laguna sighed after a few more minutes.

"I'm a slow eater. What are you gonna do about it?" She commented, not paying attention as he picked up a very thin paintbrush that Rinoa had been using to paint delicately around the doorframe. He looked around, lifting the lids of various paint pots until he found one that was suitable. 

"Hey!" Arian protested, feeling the paintbrush touch her cheek. 

Laguna grinned. "No, don't move. Hold still a minute." He continued to paint on the side of her face and she grumbled to herself, still munching on her sandwiches but keeping movement to a minimum.

"Just remind me _why_ I'm letting you do this." She muttered as he snickered quietly to himself. "Done yet?"

"Nearly…" 

She rolled her eyes. "I suppose it's a work of art, is it? I _am_ going to be allowed to wash your masterpiece off, aren't I? I'm not going to be put in an art gallery for people to gawk at, am I?"

"It's done." Laguna chuckled again, unnerving her.

"Ok, what did you do? What is it?"

Squall leaned over and inspected the side of her face. "Looks like a squashed spider to me. In a nice shade of royal blue." He commented.

Laguna just shook his head, laughing hard.

"Rinoa, have you got a little mirror or something? I wanna see what it is! It's obviously hysterically funny." She glanced sourly at Laguna. Rinoa handed her a small mirror and Arian looked critically at the side of her face. "What the hell is that supposed to be?" She asked, bewildered. She looked carefully at the squiggle on her cheek and began to make out the shape of it. "Crescent moon and a mountain. Or whatever the damned thing is. It's the symbol of Esthar. Why? And why is it suddenly so very amusing?" 

"Property of Esthar." Laguna sniggered, watching as Arian's expression changed dramatically.

"Oh really?" She said in a dangerous tone. She was about to add something further but thought of a better idea. "Laguna, sit down." She smiled and pulled the paintbrush from his hand. She thought carefully for a moment, trying to think of something she could paint. 

"What is it?" Laguna asked curiously, when she had finished. She handed the mirror to him wordlessly, waiting for his reaction. She had scrawled her name up the side of his face in the same shade of deep blue. 

"_My_ property." She retorted smugly. 

He raised an eyebrow and answered in the exact same tone as she had spoken earlier. "Oh really?"

"Rinoa!" 

They both turned to see Squall protesting while Rinoa happily doodled on his face, blissfully ignorant of his struggles. "It's an angel wing." She explained as Arian and Laguna watched. While she was explaining, Squall managed to escape and walked away a few steps. "Hey! I hadn't finished!" She put her hands on her hips, disgruntled. Looking around, she picked up one of the larger brushes and dipped it in the mint green paint, grinning wickedly before she flicked it at Squall.

The boy gasped in shock as the paint hit his shoulder and his neck. His grey eyes widened then narrowed. "Right…" He picked up his own brush and flicked paint back at Rinoa, some of it going astray and hitting Arian.

"Hey, watch it!" She protested, joining in. She turned and looked speculatively at Laguna for a moment. "You aren't overly attached to that shirt, are you?" She asked and gleefully painted a pale green stripe down it, even as he shook his head.

It didn't take long for the whole situation to disintegrate into a full-scale paint war, all of them flicking the green viscous liquid at each other, laughing manically. Even Squall gave up on being aloof and joined in.

Quistis looked into the room a short time later. The four were covered in mint green paint and most of the walls had been covered as well. She shut the door before she got a face full of paint and continued on her way. "At least they stuck to one colour." She commented. "It would look frightful if they'd used _all_ the colours. And I suppose it _did_ get the room painted… in a round about sort of way." She smiled at the memory of Squall. "I never thought I'd see him do anything so frivolous." Quistis laughed loudly and shook her head. It was amazing what simple, childish things could do to heal wounds.

Author's note: That's it folks! Finished! Finally! But there will be more fics continuing on from this, probably. The characters are too easy to write for me to leave this alone. Plus, I'm really enjoying myself writing these. And this situation has _far_ too much potential for me to drop it now. Hehehe… just think about it… you'll see what I mean…


End file.
